Buzz. Buzzzzz.

Smiling, Vicky opened the text message she’d just received. She chuckled lightly, chewing her gum. She was half way through texting a reply when her phone started to ring. She answered.

“Hey, baby…” she said flirtatiously into the receiver, “Nah, just babysitting…Yes! That one…Well, if you think it’s so easy, why don’t you try it.” she teased, drawing circles onto the coffee table with her finger. “Oh, really? Okay, I’m at” (she gave the person Kurt and Blaine’s address) “I’ll see you soon. I love you.” Vicky hung up.

“Okay, you little brat,” Vicky hissed, walking towards the play pen, “my boyfriend‘s coming over here in a few minutes, and you better not embarrass me.” she said bitterly, “Do you need changing?” she peaked inside Lizzy’s diaper. “No. Good.”

Vicky looked at the digital clock on her phone. “Oh! I need to freshen up!” she explained to no one in particular, skipping to the bathroom.

Lizzy sat in her play pen , all alone, only her stuffed animals keeping her company.

She didn’t know why the girl with the rubbish self hair-die job seemed so perky all of a sudden, but she had a feeling that she wouldn’t like it. Not. One. Bit.

Knock knock-knock-knock knock. Knock knock.

“Baby?” called a gruff voice, followed by more knocking, “Let me in!”

“I‘m coming! I‘m coming!” Vicky called, jogging out of the bathroom, her hair looking a little neater and her, already low cut black top, pulled down lower to show off her cleavage and bra.

She opened the door, and her boyfriend stepped inside, but not before giving her a long, hard kiss.

The man who Vicky called ‘boyfriend’ was tall, beefy and tan. He had tatty longish hair and a short, scruffy goatee. He had deep, dark and daring brown eyes, that were seemingly always filled with mischief. Decorating the skin around his eyes, were distant frown lines, hinting that this man spent a lot of him scowling.

“What‘s up, baby?” he said, glancing down to Vicky’s petite chest, “You look hot,” he stated, “like,” he started kissing her neck, “really hot.”

“Thank you.” Vicky breathed, kissing him passionately on the lips. “I love you, Josh.”

“I love you, too.” he replied, “So, where‘s this kiddo you‘ve been telling me about?”

Vicky rolled her eyes, “Over there in the pen.” Josh made his way over too the play pen.

“Aww, she‘s cute.” he said, bending over to pick her up.

“Careful.” Vicky warned him. “She tends to scream bloody murder when anyone, except her parents, pick her up. Either that, or she‘ll vomit all over your favourite shirt.” she huffed.

Josh laughed, “She can‘t be that bad.” he went to pick Lizzy up again.

Lizzy looked up at Josh with highly cautious eyes, grasping her bear tightly in her hands. Josh hooked his hands under Lizzy’s armpits and lifted her out of the pen. “See? She‘s fine.” he gloated.

Just as he said that, Lizzy started wriggling and whining, “Don‘t struggle.” he said as attempted to cradle Lizzy to his chest, causing Lizzy to squeak and thrash her arms and legs about. One of Lizzy’s hands accidentally slapped Josh in the face.

Josh saw red,

“You little shit!” he roared, plonking Lizzy onto the settee and stealing her bear in one quick motion. “Stop your crying.” he ordered as she made a useless reach towards her bear, her eyes watering. “I‘ll give you something to cry about!”

In that moment, the big, buff man dug his dirty fingernails into the hand-sized bear and savagely tore the poor thing to pieces; stuffing, fake fur and material scattering across the floor.

“Oh, great.” Vicky sighed sarcastically, as the baby cried harder, “Thanks, babe. Now she‘s going to cry for the rest of the day.” she said, “Do you know how long it takes her to calm herself?”

“Well,” Josh said, lowering his voice and looking Vicky up and down “we should find a way to entertain ourselves while she does that.” he walked over to her, not breaking eye contact, “Don‘t you think?” he slid his hands under her shirt and around her waist.

“I-I-” Vicky stammered as she felt Josh’s hands slide down and squeeze her ass. “Fuck it.” was the last thing she said before diving in for a heated kiss.

They stumbled into Kurt’s bedroom and shut the door, leaving Lizzy alone to mourn the loss of her teddy.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Kurt’s fingers fidgeted while he sat at his work desk, his pencil ruthless tapping against his notepad. He took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down; repeatedly reminding himself that there was only a few hours until he could go home, and Blaine would be home before then.

Blaine would tell him if something was wrong. Call him if it was serious. Kurt knew that.

And Vicky -Vicky was the babysitter. She would call if something was seriously wrong, right? It was her job to do so.

But she didn’t call last time, he reminded himself.

True, but it’s not like Lizzy was seriously ill, infants throw up all the time, he argued back to himself.

But it’s her job to tell us if something like that goes wrong!

She did tell Blaine when he got home… he reasoned.

Yeah! But something still wasn’t right about the way she reacted this morning! Kurt shivered at the memory, What if something terrible is happening?

Kurt, you’re just paranoid! he told himself.

What if I’m not?

This had been the argument circling around his head since he got in a cab to get to work. He wondered if he was just being paranoid; if the dark feeling in his chest and stomach was just some sort of new-parent-separation feeling. But he’d never felt like this when he knew Lizzy was with Blaine. He’d felt it a little nervous leaving Lizzy with his parents, but he knew she’d be safe. But, this was just scary. And the more he sat there thinking about it and not actually knowing, the insecure feeling deepened -deepened to the point where his insides churned and made him feel sick.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Kurt looked at the clock. Only 2 minutes had passed.

Screw it!

Kurt stood up so fast that his chair fell backwards and clattered to the floor. He pressed a button on the phone and said “Tori, I have to go home early. Please inform Mrs. Johnson.” before sprinting out of his office -leaving his bag behind.

“Kurt!” Tori, his assistant, called after him. “What should I tell her when she asks why you left?”

“Tell her it‘s a family emergency!” he replied, not looking back.

“Come on. Come on.” Kurt repeated as he frantically pressed his floor button, hoping that it would somehow make the elevator doors shut faster.

Finally, he heard the annoying elevator voice say “Doors closing.” and he leant against the back wall with a wave of relief as the metal doors began their torturously slow sliding.

Just as the doors were no less than 3 inches to clicking shut, Kurt heard the last sentence that he wanted to hear in his hurry to get to the apartment:

“Hold the door!”

Kurt growled as a hand shot out between the doors, causing them to re-open at their snail pace.

“Oh.” Kurt sighed as he saw who it was hastily stepping into the elevator, “Blaine, it‘s you.”

“Kurt?” Blaine blinked, “Coming home a little early don‘t you think?”

“Speak for yourself.” Kurt retorted as the elevator doors shut once more. “I know for a fact you weren‘t due to finish work for at least another hour.”

“Guilty.” Blaine admitted, “I just-”

“-came to check on Lizzy.” Kurt finished for him.

“Yes!”

“Me, too.” Kurt said, patting his chest as if to make a point. “Something just-”

“-didn‘t feel right this morning?”

“Yes!”

“Good to know we‘re on the same page.” Blaine laughed half-heartedly, “Now let‘s go get our daughter.” Blaine took a hold of Kurt’s hand as the elevator dinged open.

Together they jogged urgently towards their apartment door, sharing a concerned look as they heard Elizabeth’s muffled cries behind the door.

They opened the door.

Lizzy was sat in the middle of a large, scattered, patchy pattern of white, thin, wool-like stuff. Tear streaks scurried down her face, one after another; her was face puffy, red and swollen -it was obvious that she had been crying for a while. In her hands she held what seemed to be the tattered remains of her favourite bears’ head.

“Lizzy!” They both cried, rushing over to her. Kurt sat on the floor and picked her up, whilst Blaine knelt beside them.

“Is she hurt?” Blaine asked, worriedly.

Kurt looked her over quickly, but carefully. “No, I don‘t think so.” he told him, pulling Lizzy back in for a comforting hug, “It‘s okay, honey, we‘re home now. Your daddies are home now. Shh. Shh.”

“Where the hell is Vicky?” Blaine wondered aloud.

“Who cares? That bitch is so fired!” Kurt spat, rubbing Lizzy’s back. But, no matter how hard he tried, Lizzy refused to calm down her devastated cries. “Blaine can you go get the, uhh, wolf thing. I think it‘s in her crib.”

“Of course.” Blaine said as he went to retrieve Lizzy’s second favourite stuffed toy.

He bent down to pick up the wolf. He paused. A strange, unknown noise came out of the baby monitor, that was now near Blaine’s ear.

Abandoning the wolf, Blaine curiously picked up the baby monitor and placed it right up against his ear. And what he heard made his mouth fall open in disgust before he clamped it shut, face turning into an almost emotionless state of stone.

“Blaine,” Kurt said, noticing the sudden change in Blaine’s features “what‘s wrong?”

Without saying a word, Blaine turned up the volume on the monitor, letting Kurt hear the pleasure-filled moans that erupted from the small device.

“What the-” Kurt exclaimed as Blaine switched off the monitor.

“Kurt.” Blaine said, sternly “Take Lizzy and go to my room.”

“Blaine-”

“Now Kurt.” his tone left no room for an argument. Kurt obeyed, shutting the door behind him.

Kurt sat on the bed shushing calming phrases into Elizabeths ear, desperately hoping that she’d manage to calm herself.

BANG!

Kurt jumped. The next thing he heard was the muffled shouts of Blaine. Kurt couldn’t make out all that he was yelling, but that was the glory of closed doors, he guessed. Then he heard another voice shout, not Blaine’s, but it was unmistakably male.

Kurt heard Blaine’s shouts again, he managed to make out something along the lines of ‘Put your clothes on’, followed by loud shuffles and more yelling.

He hugged Lizzy tighter as if to protect her from the loud noises in the other room.

Furious stomps could be heard moving into the living room. More yelling- this time with a high pitched voice added in with the mix, obviously Vicky.

“Shh, Lizzy.” he whispered, massaging her lower back and kissing the side of her head. Lizzy hid her head into Kurts shirt, quieting her cry’s slightly.

The shouting on the other end of the door continued as Kurt wondered desperately what was being said. Eventually, curiosity got the better of him. Kurt got off the bed and knelt behind the door. He angled Lizzy’s head so that her cries were less audible but she was able to breathe comfortably.

He opened the door a couple of inches and peeped out, just in time to see a tall man, who he’d never seen before, flip the couch over.

Kurt gasped, watching Blaine jump backwards, obviously not expecting the tan man to do that.

“Get the fuck out off my house and stay the HELL away from my family!” Blaine all but screamed, pointing fiercely towards the front door.

“Or you‘ll do what, old man?” the man challenged cockily, stepping forward and puffing his chest out.

Blaine mirrored the mans warning stance, “Or I‘ll break your fucking legs.” he growled.

The man snorted, “Oh yeah? What if I-” he raised his fist threateningly, Blaine held his ground.

“Baby, no.” Vicky interrupted, holding her boyfriends elbow, “You‘ll end up in prison again.” she moved her hand to his wrist and lowered his fist, “Let‘s just go.”

Josh looked at his girlfriend, then to Blaine’s angry, unsmiling face, then back to Vicky. “Ugh!” he growled, taking Vicky’s hand and storming out of the apartment, slamming the door behind them.

The deafening slams’ echoes soon dimmed into a deafening silence- even Lizzy had stopped crying. Blaine hadn’t moved a muscle since they left; he stood, glaring at the door, his stance still vaguely threatening.

Minutes passed and Blaine still hadn’t moved a fraction.

Slowly, Kurt stood up and came out of Blaine’s room. “Blaine?” he called, almost cautiously, carefully walking over to his best friend.

“Blaine?” he repeated, “Are you okay?” Kurt gently lay his hand on Blaines shoulder.

Blaine turned to him, a tear running down his cheek, “Oh, Blaine,” Kurt sighed, using the hand that wasn’t holding Lizzy to wipe the stray tear away, cradling Blaines cheek in the process, “Come here.” he said, wrapping his arm around Blaines neck.

Blaine gratefully returned the hug, wrapping his arms around Kurt’s waist. He sniffed lightly, breaking the embrace for a brief moment to move Lizzy into his arms, before wrapping his arm around Kurt once more.

“I don‘t think I‘ve ever been so angry in my life.” he said, weakly.

“I know, I know.” Kurt said, rubbing Blaine’s back and caressing his hair, “But, you‘re fine. Lizzy‘s fine. I‘m fine. And it‘s all because of you.” he kissed the side of Blaine’s head, “Don‘t beat yourself up, okay?”

Blaine sniffed and nodded, resting his head on Kurt’s shoulder.

Kurt placed one more kiss on the crook of Blaine’s neck, and hugged him a little tighter.

He didn’t know what was going to happen from that moment on but, somehow, as he felt Blaine relax in his arms, he knew everything was going to be okay.

After an exhausting few hours, the men finally managed to pick up the remains of ‘Mr. Bear.’, as Kurt decided to call him, and get their daughter fed, changed and, eventually, asleep -which was hard, considering she no longer had her Mr. Bear.

Together, they lay Lizzy down in her crib, and together they picked up the couch that had previously been flipped over. They sat down, yawning.

“I am so tired.” Kurt whined.

“Me too.” admitted Blaine.

“Remind me to call in sick to work tomorrow. This day has just worn me out.”

Blaine nodded, “Understandable.”

“URG! I need to go to bed!” Kurt stood up, “If you need me, I‘ll be disinfecting my room.”

“Kurt, wait.” Kurt paused his journey to his bedroom, “Do it in the morning, you can sleep in my bed tonight, I‘ll sleep on the couch-”

“Stop right there.” Kurt put his hand up in a ‘hold it’ position, “Blaine you are not sleeping on the couch for my sake.”

“Then I guess we‘re sleeping in the same bed,” Blaine retorted, “because you‘re too tired to ‘disinfect’ your room tonight.”

Kurt almost argued, but the come-back on the tip of his tongue was replaced with a breathy yawn, “Fine.”

Blaine smiled, “Come on.” he stood up, took a hold of Kurts hand and went into the bedroom, “It‘s nothing we haven‘t done before, after all.”

Kurt nodded, “What about my PJ‘s?”

“Oh, er-” Blaine opened his draw, “Just wear this.” Blaine tossed Kurt an old, clean T-shirt.

“Thank you.” he said, catching it.

The men got ready for bed in silence, and got under the covers.

“Oh,” Kurt moaned, “it feels good to finally lie down.”

Blaine chuckled, “Comfy mattress, isn‘t it?”

Kurt nodded a he felt Blaine’s arm wrap around his waist, his hand resting on his chest. Kurt rested his arm on top of Blaines, spooning their hands together in the process.

“Goodnight, Kurt.” Blaine said, squeezing him tighter to his chest.

“Goodnight, Blaine.” Kurt replied, reaching over to turn off the lamp beside Blaine’s bed, before wrapping Blaine’s arm more firmly around himself.

Kurt waited until he felt Blaine’s breathing even out, indicating that he was asleep, before allowing his mind to wonder.

He had feelings for Blaine, there was no way he could deny it now; every time Blaine touched him, he just- wanted more. He wanted to just- kiss him. Every time Blaine looked at him, his heart sped up in his chest. It was too much! Kurt didn’t know how much more he could take without snapping.

He needed to talk to Blaine; tell him how he felt; discuss what was going to happen with Lizzy, and all their futures together. But- with everything that had happened today- it wasn’t the right time to bring it up. Maybe when everything calmed down, he would- he just didn’t know how.

Not today, not tomorrow, but soon.

Little did Kurt know, Blaine had fallen asleep thinking the exact same thing…