Blaine shuffled his hands in his lap as he took a deep breath. Looking at the door every few minutes, he felt uneasy.
“It’s natural for you to be unsure in this situation Blaine” Miss Pillsbury assured the sixteen year old as he sat in her office. It was his first day at McKinley and he’d just dropped Claire off at the day centre. The 11 month old little girl seemed a little apprehensive to leave her father but once Blaine had pulled out her fluffy purple teddy she was fine.
Sitting in Miss Pillsbury’s office, Blaine had to go through mandatory counselling just like all the teen mothers did who had their children in the centre. She just wanted to make sure they were all coping ok with school and their child. It was strange to have a boy sitting in front of her for this situation but she wasn’t one to discriminate.
“I’ve only ever left Claire with my sister or our neighbour before and I didn’t go to school much last year. It’s all a little new again” he chuckled softly.
“If you’re having any problems my door is always open”
“Thank you...”
“I know your situation is very different to some of the other students who have children at the day care centre but I’d still like to have you in maybe once a week just to see how you’re coping. Coming back to school after almost a year off is a big change for you Blaine” she continued with a smile “But I won’t keep you today, I’ll let you get to your first class”
Blaine thanked the ginger-haired teacher once more before picking up his bag and leaving her office. Taking another deep breath, he had to remember that Claire was close, she was safe and today was for him. Today was a new start for him going back to school and building his life she he can give the best to Claire.
Walking down the corridor, he passed a few familiar faces he knew from the coffee shop but his greatest delight was seeing Kurt and Mercedes by their lockers. In the few months that the pair came into the coffee house, they had mentioned what school they went to but it hadn’t quite clicked with Blaine. Walking up behind them, he held his class schedule out between them.
“Could you tell me where Mrs Harmon’s Biology Class is?” he chuckled and watched them both turn around with an expression of both shock and happiness spread across their faces.
“What are you doing here?” Mercedes gasped as she pulled the dark haired boy into a tight, bone crushing hug. “Did you just transfer in?”
“Yeah” he laughed and looked to Kurt as if to say ‘you didn’t tell her?’ He too then pulled Blaine into a tight hug
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to McKinley?”
“I honestly forgot you guys went here” Blaine chuckled “At least now I’ll have familiar faces to look for in the hall”
“You’ll be in some of our classes won’t you?” Mercedes asked wishfully. She still hoped she had a chance with the gorgeous new member of their school population.
“Sorry I’m only a Sophmore”
“Really?”
“It’s the Lima Bean uniform, makes me look older than I really am” he chuckled and nudged Kurt gently without Mercedes noticing “I should head off and find my first class. I feel like a freshman again with my map”
“Mrs Harmon’s Biology Class is right near my Geometry room, I’ll walk you” Kurt offered much to Mercedes’ dismay. Her first class, Spanish with Mr Schuester was on the opposite side of the building. “I’ll see you in Glee rehearsals M”
“See you guys later” she called after the boys as they started walking down the hallway.
“You’re here at McKinley” Kurt smiled
“I’m here at McKinley” Blaine chuckled
“I’m glad you’re here”
“I’m glad I’m here too but that might be different after Biology”
“Well I aced Mrs Harmon’s class last year so if you ever need a tutor...”
“I’ll give you a call” Blaine smiled as they stopped outside the science labs “Thanks for walking me to class”
“Any time” Kurt chuckled “You know you should come to Glee rehearsals after school today. We could always use more voices to drown out Rachel...”
“I still have to work at the coffee house so maybe next time? I’ll talk to Jenny about changing shifts. I’m not much of a singer...”
“Neither is Mike but he’s a great dancer”
“I’m not a very good dancer”
“Me either, you can trip over your feet with me in the back row”
“I’ll think about it” Blaine chuckled and smiled back at Kurt before walking into his classroom.
Much to his surprise, Blaine’s first day was really good. Of course he didn’t stop thinking about Claire and even snuck away at lunch to see her but otherwise it was an enjoyable day. He had a lot of catching up to do but by staying back a year he didn’t feel so overwhelmed.

XXXXX

“How are you holding up this week Blaine?” Miss Pillsbury asked with a smile as she caught up with the teenager in the hall as he walked to his English class. It had been three weeks since the start of term and the school year was definitely in full swing with assignments and essays already being handed out.
“Not bad” he chuckled “It’s been a little tough finding the time to get all this homework done with Mrs Lopez sick and being without someone looking after Claire but I’ve managed. She’s well again and insisting she take Claire more often to make up for the week she was sick”
“Well that’s nice of her. She’s Santana’s mother right?”
“Yeah”
“Have...” She began before noticing Amber, one of the ladies that ran the childcare centre at McKinley come running toward them “Is everything ok?”
“So glad I finally found you. We need your help with Claire” she sighed to Blaine as she caught her breath. The ladies in the centre were very well trained and could handle just about anything the kids threw at them but not today, not with Claire.
“Is she ok?”
“She’s fine; running a slight temperature which might explain why she won’t settle or stop crying. We’ve tried everything”
“You gotta sing to her” he chuckled letting out the breath he had held since Amber ran up. He was a Dad and Dad’s naturally thought the worst when their carer’s came running.
“Sing?”
“I’ll show you”
“I’ll let you English teacher know you’ll be late” Miss Pillsbury offered as Blaine started to walk off with Amber. All the teachers at McKinley knew who had kids down at the day care centre and all (except for maybe Coach Sue Sylvester) understood that the children do take priority sometimes. They just wanted the parents to finish high school.
Blaine his made way down the day care centre with Amber quickly. He knew what the brave childcare workers were facing when it came to Claire. When she was uncomfortable or upset, the whole world knew. A Princess at heart, she put on the act sometimes just to get her Dad to sing.
“Singing” Amber laughed to the other ladies as the pair walked into the day care centre. They just looked stressed especially the one holding a squirming Claire.
“Hey Claire Bear” Blaine smiled and took his daughter into his arms “I hear you’ve been making these lovely ladies’ day a little bit of a nightmare”
“You got that right” one commented softly before being nudged hard in the ribs.
“I’ve got this” he chuckled and began pacing with Claire in his arms as the carer’s went back to work. “You gotta calm down baby girl. I can’t always come and sing you to sleep”
Still crying, Claire only calmed down slightly at the sound of her father’s voice. Kissing her forehead softly, he started signing softly to her.

I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete

Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when, you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?

Will Schuester walked past the day care centre on his way to the Teacher’s Lounge and stopped at the sound of someone singing. Peering in, he saw a young boy swaying his little girl gently as he sang. His voice was just so smooth and captivating that Will couldn’t stop listening.

Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So, tell me when you gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything.
So why don't we go, so why don't we go?

Hmmm yeahh.

This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go, somewhere only we know,
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know?

By the time Blaine was finished Claire was asleep in his arms and the childcare ladies were just watching him in amazement. They couldn’t understand how he’d managed to tame the little girl. The exhaustion of crying for so long probably helped her sleep more than her father’s singing but either way Claire was asleep and quiet.
“Amazing”
“You just have to sing”
“Right, because we can all sing as well as you Blaine”
“She doesn’t care who is singing as long as there’s music” he chuckled and set his daughter down in the cots they had for the younger ones. “I should get back to class”
“Thank you Blaine” Amber smiled
“Any time. I love singing to her”
Blaine grabbed his books and headed for the door saying one last goodbye to the ladies before walking out into the hall. Smiling to himself, he was stopped in the hall by a man in a horrible sweater vest.
“Blaine Anderson right?”
“Yes...”
“I’m Mr Schuester, Glee Club Director. Have you ever thought about joining our Show Choir?”