It was getting close to Christmas and Lima had been in a blanket of snow all week. The stranger’s face brightened at the sight of the little girl in Blaine’s arms “Hey Claire Bear” she sung as she walked toward them and reached for Claire.
“Oh no, you don’t get to come near her” Blaine growled and stepped back. Kurt looked up at the girl and stood in front of Blaine and Claire defensively. Just by the look on his boyfriend’s face told Kurt exactly who this girl was. The pain in his expression was too obvious.
“You’re Annabelle Harris aren’t you?” Kurt asked calmly
“Yes and you are?”
“For the next however long you two need to talk I’m Claire’s carer” he insisted and took Claire from Blaine assuring him that everything would be fine. After Blaine took him out and explained the entire situation to him six months ago, Kurt knew he and Annabelle needed to talk when the time came. Kurt took Blaine’s keys and carried Claire into the house. He’d try his best to help out and put her to bed. Her father would definitely be in a mood when he made it inside. The little girl had no clue who the woman was that reached for her, she was a stranger.
“Who’s he?” Annabelle hissed softly as she watched Kurt take Claire inside.
“That’s really none of your business”
“I have a right to know who the strange man wearing White knee high Doc Martins is with my daughter”
“Your daughter? Since when is Claire yours?” Blaine spat and crossed his arms. He couldn’t believe the nerve of this girl.
“She has always been mine Blaine”
“No I think you gave up on her the second you left her on my doorstep” he growled “You left Claire with her birth certificate, a note and disappeared. I don’t even care where you went all I want to know is why? Why didn’t you even tell me you were pregnant? Why did you just leave?”
“I couldn’t keep her” Annabelle sighed and stuffed her hands in her pockets “My Dad wouldn’t speak to me after I told him I was pregnant. I couldn’t abort the pregnancy but I couldn’t keep her, I couldn’t look after her. I was fifteen” she cried softly.
“So was I!” Blaine snapped angrily “My father hasn’t spoken to me since he nearly tripped over Claire on the front door step. You didn’t even have the nerve to ring the god damn doorbell” he growled “At least you had nine months to prepare, hell you could have even told me I was going to be a father. A little heads up would have been great”
“I’m sorry...”
“It’s too late for that now Anna”
“You’ve got to understand Blaine, I was young, stupid”
“And what possessed you to think leaving Claire with me was the right thing to do?
“I considered adoption but...”
“Who do your parents think is raising Claire? They don’t know I have her do they?”
“They think I gave her up for adoption. I took her to your place straight from the hospital, they’ve never seen her”
“I can’t believe this” he sighed running his hand through his once gelled hair. Starting to pace, the teenager was trying to understand what Annabelle had just said. There was nothing about missing Claire and nothing about making a mistake by giving her up “Why are you here now?”
“I had to see her...”
“Well there she is, you’ve seen her, goodbye”
“Blaine...”
“It has been 18 months Annabelle. Claire’s a completely different child to when you saw her last” he sighed and peered back at the closed door of his house thinking about his boyfriend and daughter together. The thought of the two of them gave the young father hope for the future. He could just see them together taking Claire to her first day of Kindergarten and watching her move onto High School.
“I know, she’s beautiful. She looks so much like you” Annabelle smiled weakly “I just wanted to see her Blaine. I just wanted to see she was ok”
“She’s fine considering she’s being raised by a teenage single father”
“Hasn’t the money helped? Even a little? I know it wasn’t much...”
“What money?” Blaine asked confused.
“The money I’ve been sending since Claire was born. I’ve been trying to send a couple hundred whenever I could, to help...”
“We never got any money, Claire and I have had no word from you since you left her with me”
“I take it you didn’t get her birthday presents, her Christmas presents or any of the letters either? I know you hate me for this Blaine but I tried to help” Annabelle snapped as she pulled her jacket tight around her body “I don’t ever want to Claire to think I didn’t love her because I do, I just wasn’t strong enough to raise her on my own”
“I don’t hate you but I sure as hell resented you at the start” he fought back “I resented you every night Claire screamed her lungs out or when she was underweight from having to be fed formula all her life but never hated you. You gave me Claire and for that I thank you every time she giggles or snuggles up to me when I’ve had a fight with my D...” he continued until he thought of his father. The only explanation for that money never coming to him had to involve his father, there was no other way.
“Blaine?”
“Are you in town for long?”
“A few days” Annabelle nodded a little confused as to why Blaine had cut off his speech so abruptly “Is everything ok?”
“I need to deal with something” he sighed “Kurt and I take Claire to the lake every Saturday afternoon to feed the ducks; maybe you could join us there tomorrow?”
“Kurt?” she asked softly as she raised an eyebrow. Receiving a shake of the head from Blaine, Annabelle decided not to push it until she saw them again tomorrow “I’ll see you then and thank you Blaine”
“Don’t thank me yet. I’m letting you see her, nothing more... yet ok?”
“Got it”
Unsure as to whether they should hug or shake hands or have any sort of physical contact, the pair decided against it and simply waved. Annabelle didn’t want to push Blaine especially when she could see the fire burning beneath his skin about something else. Blaine headed inside calmly but once he caught sight of his father, the anger consumed him.
“Where are they?” the seventeen year old growled as he dropped his bag by the couch. His mother jumped at the sudden breakage of the silence.
“Where is what?” Michael asked calmly
“Don’t play dumb Dad, where are all the letters and parcels Annabelle sent for Claire?”
“So that was her sitting out there on the porch...”
Blaine sighed loudly and ran his hands through his hair “I’ll overlook the fact that you could have let her inside and not let her freeze out there, I just want to know what you did with it all”
“I did keep everything but I need you to understand something beforehand” Michael insisted as he stood up from the couch and made his way over to the hall cupboard. Opening the door, he pulled out two large and overflowing shoe boxes “I took these to protect you”
“Protect me? You haven’t wanted to speak to me let alone protect me since I told you I was gay” his son spat “That hatred was only fuelled by the scandal that was my daughter. You could just imagine what everyone at work would be saying. ‘There’s Mark, his gay fifteen year old son now has a daughter after a drunken one night stand. How does he get up every morning?’”
“Blaine now that was uncalled for...” Jane sighed softly
“I dealt with the silent treatment because I was 15 and couldn’t exactly make it on my own let alone with a baby but this is crossing the line Dad. I get why you refused to talk to me but you shut out Claire too. She’s just an innocent little girl who just wants her Grandpa to love her. She even asked for you the other day...”
Michael set the shoe boxes down in front of his son and pushed his hands into his pockets as he stepped back “I never hated you, and I will never hate Claire. I think she’s a perfect little girl but I’m a stubborn man Blaine, you know that” he sighed softly “I thought Annabelle’s letters was her trying to get Claire back. I watched you go through hell just trying to raise that little girl so I couldn’t see you heartbroken when she was taken away”
“Why couldn’t you have told me that? Why couldn’t you have just... I don’t know, shown any emotion rather than anger towards me about all this. I have felt like a failure to you since the day I came out. I dropped out of school so I could work and save money so Claire and I wouldn’t be such a burden in this house”
“Neither of you are burdens...” Jane insisted as she sniffed back tears. She hated hearing that her son thought he was a failure. The way Michael had handled it all was horrible but he was a proud and stubborn man. Once he was in one mindset, it took a lot for him to break down those walls.
“I was scared from the second you found Claire and still to this day I am terrified that I am going to screw up her life. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to just acknowledge Claire’s existence. I gave up on anyone helping me long ago”
“I’ve wanted to help, I really have but I didn’t know how” Anderson Senior shrugged “I’m sorry Blaine”
“I...” the teenager began. He didn’t know what to say. His father, that had barely spoken more than ten words to in the past 18 months was apologising like they could erase everything and start again. “I...”
“You’ve had a big night with Annabelle and now this, we’ll talk in the morning”
Blaine nodded as he picked up the show boxes and made his way up to his bedroom in a bit of a daze. Why, all of a sudden, was his father apologising? The most strong-minded and obstinate man Blaine had ever known was like a different person. The dazed teenager then had to think about Annabelle turning up on his doorstep wanting to see Claire. The amazingly beautiful moment he’d shared with his boyfriend that same night wasn’t even on his mind any more.
“Don’t you dare slam that door, I just got Claire to sleep” Kurt demanded as Blaine walked into his bedroom looking drained. “What happened?”
Setting the boxes down on his desk, Blaine pulled Kurt into a tight hug. He hoped that their embrace silently told Kurt that he just needed him there for a little while. He just needed to be around the two positives in his life, he could count on.