"Okay, are you girls ready?"

Lucy nodded, reaching to help Julie out of her seatbelt.

"So Grandma and Grandad are going to look after you for a little while, but we'll be back before dinner." Kurt said gently, waiting until Julie held her arms out to him before he picked her up, setting her carefully on her feet.

"Can we watch a movie?" Lucy asked happily, skipping along at Blaine's side.

"You'll have to ask...but I'm sure it'll be okay."

Lucy let out a quiet cry of happiness, careful not to startle her twin sister. Julie's wide eyes focused on the grass, on the trees, on the house, before she smiled. Lucy took her hand, throwing a cautious glance in her direction to make sure she was okay, before leading her to the door.

Kurt and Blaine followed, grinning as Julie followed happily.

Lucy paused at the door, turning to Julie.

"Do you want to knock?" she asked seriously.

Julie looked between her and the door. "C-can we kn-kn-knock toge-to-together?"

Lucy nodded, grinning as they both raised their hands, knocking at the exact same time.

Blaine and Kurt stood behind them on the deck, and their grins widened as Carole opened the door.

"Lucy! Julie!" she exclaimed – although she kept her voice low.

She bent down, scooping them up carefully, and both girls wrapped their arms around her neck.

"Thanks Carole..." Kurt grinned, and Carole shook her head.

"No worries – are you boys coming in?"

"We better not." Blaine glanced at his watch. "But we'll have some coffee on the way back?"

Carole nodded, and they said goodbye to their children before heading back to the car.

^.^

"Welcome!" a bubbly, bright young woman answered their knock, and immediately Kurt began to panic. "You're Kurt and Blaine Hummel-Anderson?"

Blaine nodded, keeping his grip on Kurt's hand and leading him into the room.

"Yep, that's us. You're...?" Blaine faltered.

"Kim White – I'll be Julie's teacher. You'll be meeting Amanda Ross – Lucy's teacher, in a few seconds – she's just finishing up with the other parents."

Kurt blanched. "Um, that could be a problem."

Kim raised an eyebrow, leading them into the meeting room. "How so?"

"Well..."

Blaine squeezed his hand, shushing him slightly.

"Julie doesn't cope well with strangers." He said softly. "She's okay if Lucy's with her but..."

Kim smiled at them soothingly.

"We listened to what you said at the interview – about how Julie doesn't have very good social skills? – and we thought separating them might help her to gain some friends of her own. The way the classes are run means that they'd only be separated for a couple of hours a day. They'd be together for outside play, and most of the afternoon."

Blaine was nodding, but Kurt was still hesitant.

"What if that doesn't work?"

"Then we can switch them into the same class."

"Oh..." Kurt sighed, relaxing minutely. "Okay."

Kim smiled at them again.

"Was there anything you were worried about?"

"Lots of things." Kurt half-smiled. "But mostly for Julie. Lucy will be fine – she adapts easily. Julie... Julie doesn't like change much."

"I was actually going to ask you about that – I've had students with Asperger's before, and they always seem to cope better if I meet them where they're comfortable first. Would you be okay with a home visit?"

Kurt nodded eagerly. "Anything you can do to make the transition easier would be wonderful..."

Blaine nodded as well, as Amanda entered the room. "Hey Kurt, Blaine. I'm Amanda." She shook their hands, sitting down with them.

"What are we up to?"

"We haven't started." Kim smiled. "We were just talking about Julie."

"Oh yes." Amanda nodded. "Well, we don't generally do much in this meeting, it just lets us talk about the kids without them overhearing, and lets us show you around the centre. Did you have anything about either of your daughters that you feel you should share?"

"Not really..." Blaine hedged. "Kim knows about our concerns for Julie, and while we're worried about Lucy, we know she'll be fine – she loves new experiences."

Amanda smiled.

"Tell us about them." She prompted softly, and Kurt started to look panicked.

"What? I've… I've already..."

"No, tell us about them. Not about Asperger's, about Julie and Lucy. What's their favourite colours?"

^.^

Kurt was beaming by the time they left the centre.

"I like this place." He said softly, grabbing Blaine's hand.

"Me too. It's…it's nice to know that they care…and it's comforting to know they've dealt with it before."

"I'm worried about her though."

"You'll always be worried."

Kurt gave a little nod, stepping up into the Navigator and waiting until Blaine was buckled in.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" he asked softly.

Blaine took his hand, smiling slightly. "She's strong…and if not, Lucy will look after her. We have good kids, Kurt."

^.^

They arrived back at Burt and Carole's by the time dinner was ready, so they decided to stay.

Lucy ran out to meet them – Julie followed a little slower, but excited nonetheless.

"Daddies!" Lucy cried, and Blaine scooped her up, nuzzling her nose gently.

Kurt picked Julie up a little more carefully, beaming at her. "Did you have a good time?" he asked gently, and she nodded, clinging close to him.

"It's hard without you." She whispered, and Kurt cuddled her closer.

"But you were okay, right?"

She nodded, and he grinned. "Good. We're not going to be around a lot anymore, remember? But you'll have Luce, and you'll get to meet your teacher soon."

Her eyes widened, and Kurt realised he'd overwhelmed her a little.

"Hey, you'll be okay." Kurt said, jiggling her a little as Blaine carried Lucy inside, nodding to him. "It's going to be a little scary, but we know what we're doing, remember?"

She nodded feebly, her little hands shaking slightly. She was a little pale, and Kurt kissed her cheek gently.

"You only have to do it for a month, and then we'll see what happens, okay baby?"

She nodded slightly, and Kurt set her down and took her hand, giving Blaine a worried look.

He just nodded, and they let Lucy and Julie run ahead.

"It's going to be hard for her." Blaine whispered into his ear. "We know that…it's just…it's how she deals is going to be the problem."

Kurt sighed unhappily. "I know…I know…"

"We're prepared for this. The first night, she won't be happy. She probably won't be happy for the first week, but then she'll settle into routine. Her mind will teach her emotions…we can't give up on her."

Kurt nodded, taking a deep breath.

"This seems to be hurting you more than her." Blaine chuckled, giving him a giant kiss.

Kurt closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. He was just worried – he couldn't help that. Julie didn't like strangers and had problems concentrating for extended periods of time.

"Blaine…" Kurt said softly, and Blaine's reassuring hand rubbed gentle circles onto his back. "Can't we just home school them?"

Blaine frowned gently. "Baby, we can't. Not yet. Give Julie a month…if she's still having problems, she can go into Lucy's class. If then, she can't cope…we'll home school them both, okay?"

Kurt swallowed hard and gave a small nod.

^.^

"Girls." Kurt called quietly, quickly getting their attention.

"Yes daddy?" Lucy asked, while Julie tipped her head questioningly, facing Kurt, but looking at his shoes.

"Julie's teacher is going to be here soon, remember how we talked about it yesterday? And I wanted to know if you two wanted to clean up your room so you can show her."

Lucy nodded, bouncing up from where she'd been sprawled on the floor, colouring diligently. It took Julie a little longer, but she got to her feet, following her twin down the hallway.

Kurt sighed, hurrying around the room to tidy it.

"Kurt, relax." Blaine said quietly. "You're going to stress Julie out, and she doesn't need that right now."

Kurt nodded.

"Right." he said, almost to himself. "Calm. It'll be fine."

"Exactly." Blaine grinned, and they both turned their heads toward the door as they heard the knock.

"I'll get it!" Lucy screeched, bolting out of her room. Kurt and Blaine winced, waiting for Julie's inevitable reaction.

Right on cue, Julie's crying started, and Blaine sighed.

"I'll get her, you get the door?" he asked, already halfway to their daughter.

Kurt nodded, headed the other way.

"Hey." Blaine called softly, walking slowly into Julie's room. "You okay princess?"

Julie's wide eyes landed on him once, before focusing on a point over his head.

"Did Lucy scare you?" Blaine asked just as softly, seating himself next to her.

Julie hesitated, then nodded, slowly crawling into his lap and resting her head on his chest.

Blaine gently cuddled her into his chest, rocking slightly until she calmed down.

"You ready to meet your teacher?" he asked her when she lifted her head again.

"D-do I h-have to?" she asked, looking at the floor.

"It would be nice if you did." Blaine suggested. "Lucy's talking to her now, and daddy and I have met her before, she's really nice."

Julie hesitated for a moment.

"Okay."

"Good girl." Blaine praised, waiting as she got up before getting up himself.

"D-do I h-have t-to like he-her?" she asked, slipping a hand into his.

"No." Blaine laughed quietly. "Are you ready?"

Julie wiped her eyes, taking a breath and nodding. Her little hands shook slightly, and Blaine sighed. It was hard, seeing her this agitated, but it was better than it could've been.

He took her hand firmly as she slid off the bed, and she looked up at him with renewed confidence, a tiny smile on her lips. Blaine led her to the living room, where Lucy was animatedly talking to Kim as they sat on the couch. Kurt beamed over at Blaine, noting each of Julie's subtle movements – the tell-tale sign of her Asperger's that only Kurt and Blaine really noticed. Her fingers twitched sporadically, her knee quivered slightly. Her gaze was on the floor.

"Julie." Blaine bent down to her eye-level, taking her small face into one hand and forcing her to look at him.

She blinked into his eyes, and her own hazel iris' cleared a little.

Blaine smiled. "There we go." he whispered, and Julie grinned at him hesitantly.

"Julie, this is Miss White. She's going to be your teacher." Blaine introduced, standing back up. Kim waved, and Julie paused, before waving back.

"On-only my te-teacher?"

"Yes, Lucy will have another lady." Kurt said softly, and Julie nodded, biting her lip as she thought. Kurt watched worriedly as she started shaking again, but Blaine beat him to it.

"Julie?"

"Y-yes d-daddy?"

"Do you want to go colour with Lucy again?"

Julie straightened, grinning over at her twin as her shaking stopped.

"Okay d-daddy!"

Kim grinned as Julie ran off with Lucy, sprawling on the ground and colouring furiously.

"You're good with her." she said quietly, and Blaine blushed slightly.

"Today's a good day. She's being pushed, and she's still remarkably calm." Kurt replied, and Kim nodded solemnly.

"If I went over and sat down next to them, would she get upset?"

"Only if you go too fast, make too much noise, or try to colour her picture." Blaine smiled. "There's spare ones on the shelf over there though, so if you took one of them and joined them, I think she'll be fine."

Kim nodded, getting up from the couch and taking Blaine's advice - grabbing a colouring book before joining the twins.

Kurt practically held his breath as he watched Julie - how she jumped slightly, and was twitchy for a little while before calming herself, how she spoke to Kim after a few minutes, answering a question.

By the time Kim left, Julie was used to her - enough so that she even hugged Kim before she went.

"I-I like my te-teacher." she announced at dinner - eyes focused on the middle of the table. "She's n-nice."

Kurt and Blaine exchanged startled glances. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as they'd feared...