“Thought you might need this” Mercedes sighed weakly as she walked up to Kurt’s locker with a cup of hot coffee in her hands. Handing it to her best friend, she sighed softy as his sad disposition that had been present since his accident, a week ago. He still had a small bandage over his eye and he was so glad it was winter so turtlenecks would cover the seatbelt burn on his collarbone. “Have you seen her?”
“Blaine won’t talk to me so no, I haven’t seen Claire” Kurt shrugged trying not to cry every time he thought about the battered little girl “I know she wouldn’t understand but I just... I just want to apologise, I should have been paying more attention”
“Boo, it was an accident. You couldn’t have changed anything”
“I could have changed a million things. I could have kept Claire at home that day but I had to take her shopping, I could have let her play longer at the playground and we would have been a few minutes later and never have been in that accident”
“Kurt, you gotta stop beating yourself up about this, it was an accident”
“An accident that I could have prevented and has pretty much ruined my life” he growled and slammed his locker shut causing Mercedes to jump slightly “Blaine is never going to talk to me again. I could have killed his daughter...”
Kurt walked away from his best friend before she could even register what he’d just said. Turning to see him round the corner, Mercedes couldn’t believe how guilty Kurt was feeling over this accident. He couldn’t have prevented that accident from happening and by calling the ambulance and staying by Claire’s side all the way to the hospital; he did what he could to help that little girl.
In a determined state of mind, Mercedes marched toward the choir room, happy to see Quinn and Santana there early for Glee Club.
“We need to do something about Kurt and Blaine” she sighed and flopped down on the chair between them “Kurt feels so guilty about the accident. Do you know what he just said to me? ‘I could have killed Blaine’s daughter’. I don’t know what to do”
“We need to talk to Blaine” Quinn insisted and looked to Santana who was simply shaking her head.
“He won’t talk; he won’t even let my Mom take Claire for a little while. He won’t leave the kid alone”
“He probably feels about as guilty as Kurt for not being there”
“Why are those two so god-damn thick headed?” Mercedes growled and crossed her arms with a huff “This was the fault of the driver in front of Kurt and the idiot beside them who hit the car. Kurt couldn’t have done anything else in that situation”
“Try telling him that” Santana sighed “Blaine’s just so scared that if he leaves Claire alone, something bad will happen”
“Someone needs to talk to Blaine. Neither of them can keep going like this. They need each other”
Both Quinn and Mercedes looked to Santana at the end of that sentence knowing she would be the only one to get through to Blaine. She was the sassy one that would easily cut through Blaine’s defences.
“Me?” she coughed “Oh no way, he’s not going to listen to me”
“You’re the only one he will listen to”
“Me yelling at him is not going to fix anything. He needs to talk to Kurt”
“He won’t talk to me” Kurt sighed from the doorway. After storming off earlier, he took a walk around the school to clear his head before heading back to the choir room. As lousy as he felt, he had to keep coming to Glee rehearsals “I appreciate the concern I really do but Blaine would be happy if he never saw me again”
“Well we all know that’s not true...”
“Have you even tried Kurt?” Quinn sighed softly
“Of course I’ve tried”
“Try again” Mercedes insisted “And try again til he listens. Go to his house, he can’t hang up on you if you’re on his doorstep”
“He can’t hang up on me but he sure as hell can slam the door in my face... I would if I were him”
“Dammit Kurt” Santana snapped and stood up “It was a damn accident! You need to march your ass over to that house and talk to that boy before he alienates himself from all of us. He’s emotional before you even add Claire to the equation so you need to talk to him”
“But...”
“No buts! For all of our sakes please just talk to him. You’re the best thing to happen to each other and it would be a damn shame if it was over for good. You belong together...”
“Never pegged you to be the silly romantic type Santana” Quinn chuckled softly
“Shutup” she snapped “I’m not some romantic. They just need to be together ok?”

XXXXX

Kurt didn’t have the chance to talk himself out of going over to Blaine’s that afternoon because as soon as Glee rehearsal finished, Quinn, Santana and Mercedes marched him to his car and insisted he went right then. Santana would follow him if she had to but it wasn’t necessary. Kurt needed Blaine and with a mixture of guilt, determination and simply missing his best friend building up inside of him, he needed to see Blaine.

XXXXX

“Oh thank God you’re here” Emily sighed as she opened the door and saw Kurt standing there shivering. Letting him in, she took his scarf and coat quickly as they made their way into the warm living room. Kurt looked around and sighed softly as he saw all of Blaine’s school books strewn across the floor mixed in with some of Claire’s toys. It looked like the pair had spent most of their time there since the accident.
“How’s Claire?”
“She’d be better if Blaine left her alone for five seconds”
“That would be my fault”
“Oh for God’s sake it was an accident. Why won’t either of you understand that?” Emily sighed and turned suddenly as she heard footsteps on the staircase. Blaine entered the room carrying his jittery little girl who still had small cuts and grazes over her fragile little body. The bruises were starting to fade but the sight of her bright pink cast twisted Kurt’s stomach into knots.
“What are you doing here?” Blaine hissed as he caught sight of Kurt. Trying to reach for the man she’d grown so fond of, Claire was held tighter by her father as if to tell her ‘no’.
“I called him” Emily piped up quickly as she made her way over to her brother and took Claire from his arms. She didn’t need him holding her niece if he was angry. Even though Kurt had come over on his own accord, Emily took the fall so Blaine wouldn’t add something else to his ever growing pile of anger issues “You two need to talk and Claire needs to get out of this house. You keeping her locked up here in your little guilt bubble is not healthy Blaine”
“What the hell are you...” Blaine began before he was interrupted by his sister. For once in his life he was actually glad she was going back to school in a few days time.
“Claire and I are going to go for a walk ok? I think I might spoil her with a new teddy bear to add to that ridiculous collection and maybe even a pretty dress to wear to Sarah’s wedding next weekend”
“We’re not going to the wedding...” Blaine sighed as he thought about his cousin’s wedding and the mass amount of family that would be present. Most of that family either didn’t like Blaine being gay, didn’t like that he had a child so young or those who accepted him for who he was ignore the stares and whispers from the rest of his family. It was uncomfortable no matter what so why did he want to suffer through an entire day of it?
“You are going to that wedding because Sarah adores you and she adores Claire and you will break her heart if you’re not there” Emily snapped as she pushed her brother toward his boyfriend “Suck it up Princess and deal with the crap going on between you two first then kiss, make up and invite Kurt to the wedding. Do that and we’ll all be happy for the first time this week” she demanded and grabbed Claire’s and her own coat on her way out the door. Dramatic exits had always been Emily’s strong suit and now was no different. It got her point across at least.
“Everyone is missing you at school...” Kurt said breaking the uncomfortable silence that had come over them. “Mr Schue won’t let Rachel settle on any songs until you’re back. He’d love you guys to sing a duet together”
“I don’t know if I’ll be going back to Glee Club. Claire needs me here”
“Blaine...”
“Was there something in particular that you needed or was the Glee Club gossip all you came for?” Blaine snapped regretting it almost as soon as he’d said it. Taking a deep breath, he was honestly sick of fighting. He was scared and worried about his daughter and it had drained every ounce of energy out of the seventeen year old.
“I... I wanted to apologise... for everything” Kurt sighed softly and stuffed his hands into his pockets “I’m sorry about the accident and... I never meant for Claire to get hurt. I love her and I never want anything bad to ever happen to her” he continued as Blaine’s expression started to soften slightly. He was still angry about what happened but the pain on Kurt’s face pulled at his heartstrings. “Accident or not I should have been paying more attention especially when I knew the roads were so icy. No amount of apologies can express how sorry I am for putting your daughter in that danger. I will never forgive myself for hurting her”
“Kurt...”
“And I know that you will never forgive me for this, I will never forgive myself for this....”
“Kurt...”
“I love you and I love that little girl more than anything in this world and I understand if I have completely ruined any future we have but I just want you to know how so incredibly sorry I am for hurting Claire”
“She called you Papa” Blaine blurted out quickly and looked up at Kurt. The confusion drawn all over Kurt’s face caused Blaine to close the gap between them and take his boyfriend’s hands gently “Right before you got here, she was being fussy so I gave her the bear your Mom made. It was then that Claire asked where ‘Papa Kurt’ was”
“She called me that?” Kurt gasped not knowing whether Blaine was happy about that or not
“It was only a matter of time; you are like a second Dad to her” he shrugged still keeping his emotions under control “I guess I was annoyed at first because I still blamed you for the accident but I saw the way she looked at you before Emily took her. I saw the way you looked at her and even the way you look at me when I’ve been nothing but cruel to you since the accident”
“Rightly so...”
“No it wasn’t right but I was scared. I saw my little girl in the hospital and freaked out. I couldn’t help the crazy dad mode I went into and I’m sorry”
“Why are you apologising when it was me...” Kurt began to ramble again before he was silenced by Blaine’s hand over his mouth. He tried to talk against it but the muffled sounds were unrecognisable.
“Shutup” he chuckled softly “The police told me exactly what happened and the accident wasn’t your fault. I’m still angry about what happened but my anger shouldn’t be towards you. It should be toward the idiot in front of you and the douche that hit you guys. Did you know he was texting whilst driving which is why he wasn’t paying attention?” Blaine growled. Realising he was squeezing Kurt’s hands hard, he released the tension and looked up at his boyfriend “I just immediately had to blame someone for Claire getting hurt and you were the first person I thought of. Crazy dad took over and I never stopped to think that you were injured in all this too”
“I’m fine; it’s Claire you need to be worried about. How is she?”
“She’d be better if I didn’t baby her so much” Blaine shrugged lightly “Emily’s right, I’ve had her in a bubble because I’m just so scared something will happen to her. I can’t protect her forever but I’m sure we can try for as long as possible” he smiled and wrapped his arms around Kurt’s waist.
“We?”
“I want Claire to be able to call you Papa”
“Really?”
“I’m going to marry you one day Kurt Hummel” Blaine smiled as he cupped his boyfriend’s face gently “I’m sorry for blaming you for the accident. Over reactive father syndrome”
“Is that what I’ve got to look forward to?”
“Well she is about to hit the terrible two’s”

XXXXX

“Kurt? Blaine?” Emily called out as she walked through the house. Everything was quiet and she feared the worst. They could have had a screaming match, Blaine could have stormed up to his room, Kurt leave and their perfect relationship be over for good. Setting the shopping bags down on the couch, Emily took Claire upstairs to set her down for a nap. She was still taking painkillers for her arm so the little girl got sleepy and irritable very easily.
Hearing strange noises coming from her brother’s bedroom, Emily set her niece down in her bed and opened her music box letting the soft piano tune ease the little girl off to sleep. If her father wasn’t around to sing to her, the music box worked just as well. Emily closed the pink door and made her way back down the hall to Blaine’s bedroom.
“Blaine? How did everything go with Kurt?” she asked through the door, too scared to open it “If you two didn’t make up then I will kick your scrawny ass all the way over to his house til you do”
“His ass isn’t scrawny, believe me” she heard through the door and immediately knew what had happened. Sighing loudly with a laugh, she was thankful that the pair was back together. She wasn’t thankful for them having sex with her outside the door and Claire across the hall.
“Seriously guys?”
Blaine opened the door a moment later clearly only just pulling on the first pair of pants he could find “Hey Em”
“Sex in the middle of the day with your daughter in the house? Wrong”
“Well she wasn’t here when we were actually having...”
“I don’t need the details” Emily snapped quickly before her brother could finish his sentence. Gay or not because she really didn’t care about her brother’s sexuality, she did not need to know the details of Blaine’s sex life.
“You brought it up” he smirked and crossed his arms over his bare chest. Looking over her brother’s shoulder, Emily waved at Kurt who had the blanket secured over his lap “How was your shopping trip?”
“I don’t want to talk to you while you’re naked”
“I’m not naked, I’m wearing pants”
“But your boyfriend is naked...”
“So?” Blaine chuckled “He’s gorgeous and I like him naked”
“Oh God” Kurt sighed and tried to hide himself under the blanket out of embarrassment. Equally embarrassed, Emily shook her head.
“Just get dressed, come downstairs and see what dress I bought Claire for the wedding and don’t say you’re not coming. You and Kurt are both coming to save me from having to endure Great Aunt Carol all by myself”
“We’ll be down in a minute” Blaine smiled and shut the door as Emily headed back down the stairs. Walking back to his bed, Blaine pulled the covers off Kurt “Don’t be embarrassed”
“But Emily...”
“Has walked into a family dinner half naked with some guy thinking no-one was home. She’s done worse”
“Still...”
“Still you’re beautiful and you’ve got nothing to hide” Blaine smiled and placed a soft, open mouthed kiss on his boyfriend’s chest before getting up off the bed “Come on, I want to see what Emily bought”