“Dude, I thought Claire had stopped crying at all hours of the night a couple months ago” Andrew complained as he leant sleepily against his brother’s bedroom door. It was 2am and Blaine had his 7 month old little girl in his arms rocking her gently. She’d been so good and usually slept quite soundly with very few interruptions but she’d started teething again.
“I’m sorry bro, I really am. She’s got teeth coming through, it’s painful” Blaine sighed as he started to softly sing to his daughter. The young father learnt very early on that Claire settled when he sang softly to her. It soon became a nightly ritual to sing his daughter a lullaby to help her sleep.
“It’s the third night in a row...”
“If I could stop it, I would” Blaine growled and glared at his brother as if to say ‘Go away’. Andrew trudged off to his room let out a loud yawn causing the older Anderson brother to just roll his eyes. If he had the power to sooth his daughter’s pain then he would do it. All he could do was give her baby pain killers but they weren’t doing a very good job.

“Hey... hey... hey... Your lipstick stains on the front lobe of my left side brains. I knew I wouldn't forget you, and so I went and let you blow my mind. Your sweet moon beam, the smell of you in every single dream I dream. I knew when we collided, you're the one I have decided who's one of my kind. Hey soul sister, ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio, stereo, the way you move ain't fair, you know! Hey soul sister, I don't want to miss a single thing you do...tonight”

Blaine’s soft singing started to sooth the little girl as she drifted off to sleep. No doubt she’d be awake again soon and he’d sing her another song. Hopefully these teeth would finish coming through and they could all get some sleep. Setting Claire down in the crib her Aunt Emily had so kindly found at a local thrift store, Blaine pulled the blanket over her tiny body. Leaning back, he watched the little girl sleep in her pink crib for a few minutes before laying down on his own bed. Quickly drifting off to sleep he had to make the most of any time he could sleep.
When Emily first brought home the bright blue crib, the first thing Blaine did was sand it down and paint it pink. His little girl couldn’t have anything blue even though she shared her room with her father. The Anderson’s were reasonably well off and could have bought a brand new crib but Blaine didn’t want to ask much of his parents. He wanted to prove he could look after Claire not that his father would help out too much. If Michael wasn’t still sour about his son being gay, the fact that his fifteen year old was raising a baby annoyed him a little bit more.
Blaine’s brother and sister had been an amazing help with their niece over the last seven months and the young father wouldn’t have been able to handle Claire without them. Still trying to fit in some school work, Blaine had Andrew take assignments back and forth from school while Emily watched Claire for an hour or two every day just to give her brother a break.
As much as Blaine had hoped he could keep up with his school work, it all became too much and he fell too far behind. Raising Claire was more work than he had expected and he’d been living on a couple hours of sleep a day for what felt like forever. This was a lot to handle for a now sixteen year old kid.
When the Anderson’s neighbour of ten years, Mrs Lopez offered to babysit Claire a few times a week it was a godsend to Blaine. He had been hoping to find a part time job to scrounge up some money for himself and his daughter but with Emily going off to college soon he was going to lose his live in babysitter. Mrs Lopez had a daughter about Blaine’s age he’d seen in passing but had never really spoken to. She was a lovely woman and heard of the teenager’s situation after running into Jane at the grocery store buying diapers.
Blaine found a job at the local coffee house training up as a barista three days a week. It wasn’t much and the money wasn’t the greatest but it was a start. The teenager saved every penny he earned and was able to start replacing Claire’s Thrift store belongings with something that would last.

XXXXX

“Hey Claire Bear” Blaine smiled as he took his daughter from Mrs Lopez’s arms. He’d been at work all day and raced out of that coffee shop as fast as he could. He hated spending so much time away from his beautiful little girl but it was a necessary evil.
“She was good today” Mrs Lopez smiled as she watched the joy in the 7 month old girl’s face at the sight of her father “She didn’t have her nap this afternoon though so she’ll be tired”
“Good, maybe we’ll both get a well deserved sleep” the teenager chuckled “Thank you again for taking such great care of her. I don’t know what I would do without you”
“Any time. Claire’s a gorgeous little girl, a pleasure to watch”
“You can’t understand how much I appreciate you helping me like this. Not many people would”
“If my Santana was in the same situation I’d hope someone would reach out and help her too” she smiled warmly “Come sit down for a minute, you look beat”
Blaine thanked her once more and took a seat on the couch with Claire bouncing on his knee. She was a happy girl so despite her father’s slump and bags under his eyes, she still giggled with every bounce. Sometimes her laughs were all Blaine needed to cheer up and realise what he’d given his childhood up for.
“How are you going Blaine? How are you coping?”
“I’m ok... I’ll be ok”
“When was the last time you had some time to yourself?” Mrs Lopez asked concerned. She could see the exhaustion on Blaine’s face and she worried about him.
“Seven months ago” he chuckled softly “I love my daughter Mrs Lopez and if it takes a lot of sleepless nights and Non fat Mocha Latte’s to give her what she needs then I will do it. I can’t bail on her like her mother did”
“Who’s her Mom?” a soft voice asked from behind them. Turning, Blaine saw a girl not much older than he was wearing a cheerleading outfit.
“Santana that’s none of your business” Mrs Lopez warned
“No it’s ok. Do you remember Annabelle Harris?”
“Oh yeah, I heard she got pregnant, never pegged you to be the father. Aren’t you...?” she began before Blaine quickly cut her off.
“Yes” he chuckled. Not a lot of people knew he was gay and he was going to keep it that way for a while. Some people weren’t always so welcoming when they found out about his sexuality. “Annabelle left Claire with me a week after she was born. I haven’t heard from her in a very long time”
“Well she’s missing out” Mrs Lopez insisted as she watched Claire’s bright smile. Blaine too looked down at his daughter. She was just so innocent; the pain of her mother running away hadn’t affected her yet.
“I should get Claire home and to bed” Blaine smiled and stood up “Thank you again Mrs Lopez”
“You’re welcome Blaine. We’ll see you again on Thursday?”
“Yes, 2 o’clock”
Blaine grabbed Claire’s diaper bag as he headed for the door. Giggling over his shoulder, Claire tried to wave at Mrs Lopez.
“Hey Anderson” Santana chuckled as she followed Blaine to the door “You any good at French? My teacher Mr Parker is ready to flunk me. I’d babysit for some tutoring...”
“I took Italian sorry”
“Took?” she questioned. Nosey by nature, Santana had to know every detail or she wasn’t happy.
“I dropped out of school a few months ago. I couldn’t handle it plus I couldn’t find anyone to look after Claire” he shrugged. Blaine planned to go back to school when Claire was old enough to school herself. He’d finally have time but until then he didn’t want to impose on anyone to look after his daughter.
“I go to McKinley High just on the other side of Lima, it has a day care centre for some of the student’s kids. They want teenage mom’s to stay in school” Santana informed him “It’s free and they stay open late although my Mom would hate it if she didn’t get to look after Claire sometimes. You should consider it...”
“Thanks, I’ll think about it” Blaine smiled and walked out the door. He’d never considered going back to school so soon. It was never an option so he hadn’t even researched schools like McKinley that helped teen parents. Maybe he could really set Claire up with a good life if he went back to school.
Shrugging it off, Blaine thought nothing more of it. As much as he’d like to go back to school, he didn’t have time. He needed the little money that he got from the coffee house and then he would go back to school.