Saturday the 3rd of July 2010

"Her name is Bella." Bel said carefully, looking between her foster parents' expressionless faces. "Blaine came up with it."

"That's a pretty name." Lauren Mayer said and smiled a tiny bit.

Stanley grunted in agreement.

"Do you want to hold her?" Bel tried.

"Not until she can support her head by herself." Stanley said matter-of-factly.

"Men..." Blaine whispered to Bel, who snorted.

"I'd love to." Lauren said and took the baby that her foster daughter handed her.

She held her for about five minutes while Bel and Blaine told them about the birth and the plans they'd come up with. Then Stanley decided it was time to leave.

So they left.

Sunday the 4th of July 2010

"Welcome home, Bella!" Blaine said as he carried her into the Anderson house. "This is one of your homes." He shut the door behind them and put the portable car seat on the floor while he and Bel removed their shoes.

"Welcome home!" Anna burst out of the kitchen with a plate of cookies.

"Mom, you never bake! What happened?" Blaine said as he picked the seat up again and walked up to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"My only child is bringing his own child home today! How could I not bake?"

Blaine took a cookie and bit off a small piece, chewing it and grimacing. "Mom, which jar did you take the sugar from?"

"The red one."

"That's salt, mom. The blue one is sugar." Blaine said, putting the cookie back on the plate. "But they look really pretty." he added as his mother frowned.

"Thank you though, Anna." Bel said and walked up to hug her.

"Welcome home, kids." Anna smiled and threw the cookies in the nearest trashcan.

Blaine pushed the door to his room open with his knee and carried his sleeping daughter inside. His father had apparently fixed his room up for the arrival of the baby. His bed was pushed into a corner of the room and a white crib with pink bedding stood beside it. Blaine carefully put Bella down among the quilts and pillows in the crib and found that his mother had bought a yellow fish plushy toy. Blaine picked it up and smiled at the tiny embroidery on one of the fins; "Bella". He put the fish down by Bella's pillow and sat down heavily on the bed. At a closer look Blaine saw that the electrical outlets had child protection put in. He smiled fondly and got up to go to the bathroom. When he walked inside the bathroom that was joined with his room he found a changing table and a diaper dispenser where the bathtub used to be. There was also a shower cabin in the corner. Blaine was not surprised that his father had the time and money to pretty much rebuild part of his bathroom in the three days he was gone. He did his business, washed his hands and looked at his reflection in the mirror. Blaine thought he looked like he had aged five years over the last three days. He shook the thought away and went back into his bedroom, lying down on his bed and stretching his arms and legs out before taking his phone out of his pocket.

To: Bel Message: Wanna come over and watch a movie?

"You could have just walked across the hallway and asked me." Bel appeared in the doorway about a minute after Blaine sent the text. 

Blaine held his index finger to his lips and pointed to the crib. Bel sighed and walked in, closing the door behind her and lying down on the bed next to Blaine. They both just looked at the ceiling for a moment, breathing.

"Blaine?"

"Yes, Bel?"

"I'm sorry."

Blaine lifted himself up to lean on his elbows. "For what?"

"For what I said during labor." Bel said sadly and avoided Blaine's eyes.

"You don't need to apologize for that, Bel. You were in an extremely stressful situation."

"That doesn't matter. I did this to myself." She turned to look him deep in the eyes.

"Don't ever blame yourself for what happened, Blaine. I talked you into it. End of story."

"Okay..." Blaine took a deep breath. "I'm very glad it did happen though. Bella is absolutely perfect."

"Yeah. We did a good job."

Blaine threw his hand over his mouth and blushed. "Bel!"

"Prude!" Bel teased and sat up against the headboard. "What do you wanna watch?"

"We can share my earphones and watch something you like."

Bel laughed. "Sure."

They watched some action movie that Bel liked and Blaine fell asleep halfway through. 

Bel woke him about two hours later for the Andersons' fourth of July-dinner. Anna babbled on about how happy she was about Bella and everything while Herman ate as slowly as possible to avoid having to talk much; he didn't seem to know what to say. Bel kept up the light small-talk with Anna while Blaine ate and looked after Bella. It was a pleasant evening even though Blaine was afraid of the fireworks, but luckily Bella wasn't.

"Protect me, baby." Blaine whispered to Bella, where he hid inside the house and peeked through the curtains at his parents and Bel.

Tuesday the 6th of July 2010

Blaine carefully put Bella down on the changing table and removed her white and pink-striped little pants. "Good girl, Bella. Lie still." Blaine said and stopped for a second to run the pad of his thumb across her forehead. "Okay, baby. I know you're too little to move around much yet. This is going to be a lot harder when you get older, isn't it?" He proceeded to remove her diaper and throw it in the dispenser. He cleaned Bella off, put a new diaper on without much trouble and then put her tiny pants back on. After picking her up he kissed the top of her head. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" He turned to walk out of his bathroom but found Bel blocking the door.

"You are so good with her." she stated and smiled. "You'll be a great dad... You ARE a great dad."

"I've only been a dad for like five days." Blaine chuckled. "Besides, it's the easiest when they're this tiny, isn't it? Support the head, feed, burp, change diaper and snuggle."

"I guess." Bel laughed too. "I don't feel worried about leaving you two alone next week, at all."

Blaine grinned and then looked down at the little girl in his arms. "We'll do fine. Won't we, baby?"

Bella just looked at him with her huge eyes, and Blaine kissed her on the nose this time. When he looked back up at Bel she had tears in her eyes.

"Oh, no. Don't be sad, mommy!" Blaine moved closer to Bel and moved Bella in his arms so her mother could see her face properly. "See, Bella is happy. Thus, everybody is happy!"

"Happy tears, Blaine." Bel said and wiped the corners of her eyes. "But mostly hormones." Blaine chuckled and Bel punched him lightly on the arm. "You are adorable when you're with her."

"Thanks." Blaine grinned and Bel bent down to kiss the top of their daughter's head as well.

Wednesday the 7th of July 2010

Blaine put the right amount of powder into the bottle, screwed the lid on and shook it while going back into the living room.

Bel was waiting on the couch, holding Bella close. "Sit down and I'll give her to you." she said and Blaine sat down in the armchair and placed the bottle on the side table. Bel handed her over and Bella started whining.

"Shh, baby girl. Daddy brought you food!" Blaine said happily and shook the bottle once more before starting to feed the little girl.

"Adorable." Bel sighed and half-lied down on the couch, pulling a blanket from the armrest and draping it over herself.

Blaine watched Bella's face blissfully as she ate. Toward the end of the bottle the little girl's eyes drooped closed and her mouth fell open a little. Blaine put the bottle back on the side table, stood and carefully moved Bella so he could burp her. She stirred slightly, but fell right back asleep after a small burp.

"Wanna hold her?" Blaine asked Bel, who had only sat watching Blaine and their daughter.

"I'm okay." Bel said and folded her hands on top of the blanket. "You two can use some bonding time."

"But you're gonna be without her for a week soon. You sure you don't wanna hold her?" Blaine whispered, stroking the little girl's hair.

"I said I'm fine, Blaine!" Bel hissed.

Blaine's mouth fell open, but Bella started whining again so he shushed her and walked out of the living room with a hurt expression. He carried her to his room and put her down in the crib before settling down on his bed. After pouting at the ceiling for a few minutes he decided to go back downstairs and talk to Bel. He turned the baby monitor on, put it in his cardigan pocket and tiptoed out of the room. When he came back downstairs Bel was still on the couch. He walked around it and stopped in front of her. She had her arms crossed over her chest, frowned and was pointedly not looking at him.

"Bel?" Blaine said carefully.

"What?" she snapped.

"I'm sorry. Did I do something wrong?" Blaine said, the hurt evident in his voice.

"No! You did nothing wrong! You're perfect!" Bel shouted.

"Why are you yelling at me?" Blaine took a few steps back and bumped his leg into the coffee table, knocking an empty water glass over.

The baby monitor started whining.

"Never mind. I'll go upstairs and comfort our daughter." Blaine hurried out of the room and Bel started to cry silently.

Blaine easily made Bella fall back asleep by rocking her back and forth and singing to her under his breath. He didn't want to go back downstairs and get yelled at, so he put his pajamas on - even though it wasn't late, he knew he wasn't leaving the house - and laid down in his bed. 

Thursday the 8th of July 2010

Blaine awoke to crying. He quickly glanced at the clock on his nightstand and saw that it was two in the morning. After blinking a couple of times he realized the crying wasn't from Bella.

"Bel?" he whispered and turned in the opposite direction, to where Bel was sitting on the edge of the bed in her pajamas. "Are you okay?" He threw the duvet off of his body and moved closer to her. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, Blaine." she gasped between sobs. "So, so sorry!"

"It's okay." Blaine whispered, stroking her arm.

"It's not!" she sobbed and threw her arms around his neck.

"Shh." Blaine hugged her tight. "I'm not mad."
Bel just continued to cry into Blaine's neck. He reached a hand up to comb through the short hair on the back of her head while shushing her gently. After a while she calmed down and pulled away from him, twisting her hands together in her lap.

"Wanna sleep in here?" Blaine asked.

Bel didn't respond, she just scooted closer to him and pulled the duvet back over the both of them. "Thank you, Blaine."

"You're very welcome." he said and turned to face the crib.

"Blaine?" came Bel's voice after a minute.

"Yes?"

"I love you." Blaine felt Bel scoot even closer, moving one of her arms around his ribcage. "And I'm sorry."

"I love you too. And I know, Bel." Blaine whispered and put his hand on top of hers at his side. "I forgive you."

Bel hiccupped a final sob and then nuzzled her nose against the back of his neck. They fell asleep like that; like they used to when they dated or when Bel was really sad during the pregnancy.

Saturday the 10th of July 2010

Blaine and Bel didn't argue any more during the next two days. But Bel came into Blaine's room crying at night, curling up next to him in bed. It wasn't odd to Blaine, since he was just comforting her like he had been doing for months, during her hormone-crying and panic-attacks about having a baby. She also insisted that Blaine held Bella most of the time, wanting them to bond as much as possible before it was Bel's turn to have her for a week.

Blaine was exhausted. During the day he took care of Bella - with some help from Bel and his mother - and during the nights he comforted a crying Bel.

On Saturday morning Bel was nothing short of clingy, even after they'd gotten out of bed. She was hugging Blaine and telling him she loved him. She also wanted to hold Bella all through breakfast and up until lunch.

"Bel, are you okay?" Blaine asked when she snuggled up to him on the couch when he was feeding Bella after lunch.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes." Bel rubbed her cheek against Blaine's shoulder. "I just realized how lucky I am to have you."

"Okay." Blaine smiled fondly, putting the empty formula bottle on the coffee table and standing to burp Bella.

"I don't wanna go." Bel sighed and straightened on the couch.

"I'll just have her for a week and then it's your turn. And you know you can call me any time." Bella burped and Blaine handed her to Bel. "Here. Cuddle her while I carry your bag down, and we'll leave in ten minutes. Okay?"

"Okay."

Blaine kissed Bella's forehead and then Bel's too before walking up the stairs. Bel's bag was packed and ready on the bed, so he grabbed it and carried it down the stairs to put it by the front door. He walked back into the living room and found Bel crying again, little Bella fast asleep in her arms.

"Why are you crying?" Blaine asked and sat down beside her.

"I'm just gonna miss you so much."

"We're gonna miss you too. But we've been apart for a week before. We'll be fine. I have my mother to make sure I don't break Bella."

Bel chuckled at that and wiped a tear off her cheek with her palm. "You are the best guy I'll ever know." Bel smiled, but her eyes teared up again.

"And you are the best girl I'll ever know." Blaine leaned his head on her shoulder. "Now let's cuddle until we have to leave."

And so they did.

When they stood by the Mayer household's front door Blaine hugged Bel as close as he could, holding Bella's car seat in one hand. "Say bye to mommy, Bella." He held the seat up so Bel could reach her. "See you next week mommy!"

Bella gurgled and Bel's eyes got teary once again."I'm gonna miss you so much, baby." Bel leaned forward and pressed her lips against Bella's forehead, making the little girl squeak. "You too, dork." she added and kissed Blaine's cheek.

"Bye mommy!" Blaine said and walked toward the parking lot.

"I love you!" Bel called after them, waving and smiling slightly.

"We love you too!" Blaine called back before Bel was out of sight.

Tuesday the 13th of July 2010

Bella was crying.

Blaine stood in his bedroom rocking her at four in the morning. "Shh, baby. You're okay. Daddy's fed you, burped you and changed your diaper. You're okay." Blaine cooed. "Please, Bella. Why are you still crying?" he whined.

"Blaine? Is everything alright?" Anna peeked her head inside the door, looking like she was sleepwalking.

"Yes, mother. We're fine." Blaine sighed, rocking a bit faster. "Aren't we, Bella? Just a little fussy."

"Can I help with anything?"

"No, mom. I've tried everything. I'm just gonna hold her until she falls asleep."

"Alright, honey." Anna said and left again, closing the door.

"You've been crying for three hours, baby! What's wrong?" Blaine felt frustrated tears pool in his eyes. "I'm a horrible father. I can't even comfort my own daughter!"The tears spilled over and Blaine let out a broken sob. "Daddy will sing to you, okay?" he whispered and moved Bella in his arms. He sang for another hour until she finally fell asleep.

Blaine put her down in the crib so slowly his arms shook. When she was finally bundled under the blankets with her yellow fish, Blaine sat down on his bed and sighed deeply. He then flopped back onto the bed, his legs dangling over the edge. "Finally." he breathed - his voice hoarse - and closed his eyes.

Blaine jerked awake when his phone rang loudly on the nightstand. He shot up into a sitting position from where his legs were still dangling over the edge of the bed. "Hello?"

"Hey, Blaine. It's Bel. How is everything going?"

"Oh, it's been fine. Until-" Blaine checked the time, it was now eight. "-about seven hours ago. She cried for four hours. Four hours, Bel!"

"Oh, wow. That sucks. And here I call and wake her up!"

"Nah, it's okay. She's still asleep." Blaine rubbed one eye with his fist.

"Okay. Well, I just wanted to check on you two."

"We're fine. But I'm exhausted."

"I'll let you sleep then." Bel said, and Blaine thanked Zeus or whoever was up there. "I miss you."

"I miss you too. And Bella misses you!"

"Bye Blaine."

"Bye Bel."

Thursday the 15th of July 2010

"Blaine."

Blaine grumbled and turned over onto his back.

"Blaine!" He lifted his head and found his father looking down at him. "Your mother is yelling for you to come to the downstairs bathroom. Something amazing has apparently happened. So, get up."

"Okay, dad."

Herman held his hand out toward him and Blaine grabbed it, accepting the help to get pulled into a sitting position. He stood as his father left the room, and straightened his pajamas before going downstairs.

"There you are, honey! You missed it!" Anna chirped when Blaine walked into the bathroom.

"Missed what?"

Anna had taken care of Bella for a few hours in the morning so Blaine could get some sleep. Apparently she had given her a bath.

"Her umbilical cord fell off!" Anna said like it was the most exciting thing in the world.

"Ew." Blaine remarked, wrinkling his nose. He'd left the baths to Bel and his mother to avoid that thing.

"I know you think it's gross, so I threw it away. But come here!" Anna waved for him to come closer to the changing table where Bella laid. "Come look at her adorable little bellybutton!"

"Oh." Blaine said and walked over to them, looking down at his daughter. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed in a high pitch. "It's beautiful!"To other people it looked like a normal bellybutton, but to Blaine it was the most adorable one in all the world. "I have to call Bel!" he exclaimed and ran up to his room and grabbed the phone off the nightstand.

"Hello?" Bel's voice sounded in the phone.

"Hi Bel! Something amazing just happened!"

"What happened?"

"Bella has got the cutest bellybutton of all time!"

"Oh, okay. That thing fell off." Bel chuckled lightly. "Can you send me a picture?"

"Sure!" Blaine scrambled down the stairs and heard some loud noises on the other line.

"What's that noise?"

"My parents are on a business-trip until Wednesday, so I'm going to the mall. By bus." Bel explained.

"Oh, okay." Blaine walked into the downstairs bathroom to find his mother putting Bella's yellow onesie on. "Mom, stop! Bel wants a picture of Bella's bellybutton."

Anna just giggled and lifted the onesie over Bella's stomach. Blaine took a picture, just as Bella put her fist in her mouth. He sent it and then put the phone back to his ear.

"Did you get it?"

"Yeah." Bel sounded sad. "She's beautiful."

"She is. But don't be sad. You'll see her in just two more days!"

"Yeah." Bel sighed. "Give her a kiss from me."

"Okay. Bye Bel."

"Goodbye."