Friday Night

Not long after Blaine left, Tia woke, even more feverish and crying. The doctor could tell by feeling her that the fever wasn't dangerously high, but he hated that she was so uncomfortable.

Two hours later he was still feeling bad for her, but was also tired and frustrated... not to mention irritated by the fact that Blaine should have been home ninety minutes ago.

Four hours later he was exhausted, stressed and freaking out. He had texted and called Blaine more times than he could count, with no answers to his texts and calls going straight to voicemail. Tia had been crying almost nonstop and his nerves were fried. It was also incredibly unlike Blaine to not come home and not answer his phone. The later it got, the more he worried he became, about both his husband and the baby.

By then he was pacing the floor with a screaming Tia, debating about waking the other kids and taking everyone to the hospital, or his dad's, he wasn't sure which. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Tia finally fell into an exhausted sleep, flush cheeked and sweaty. He froze for a moment, afraid to wake her, before sitting back down on their bed and holding her to his chest. He didn't even think about laying her down in her crib.

He glanced at his watch and saw that it is was five in the morning. Now that he didn't have a baby screeching in his ear, he could think a little more clearly. He picked up his phone from the bedside table and dialed the hospital to see when they had last seen Blaine. He didn't know why this hadn't occurred him earlier. His heart started to race a little as the phone rang. With his head now clear, he was able to focus enough to actually freak out. Disappearing like this was so out of character for Blaine. The only scenarios he could come up with were terrifying. He prayed desperately that the nurse had simply gotten side-tracked by an emergency at the hospital, and wasn't able to answer his phone. Lord knows, Kurt could understand something like that.

"Lima Memorial."

"Hi. This is Dr. Hummel."

"Oh! Hi Kurt! It's Simone."

Kurt opened his eyes wide in surprise. "What are you doing there? You should have been home hours ago."

"I was home," she sighed. "I came in again. We've been over-run with patients and majorly understaffed. Haven't you talked to your husband? He's been here all night."

Kurt sagged with relief and sighed. "That's what I was checking on. No, we haven't talked, but I figured it must be something like that. How bad is it?"

"It's better now. Things have settled down a bit. The girl he's with though, Kurt... I just feel so terrible for him. For some reason it's hitting him the hardest of anyone here."

Kurt felt his heart sink. "Why? What happened?"

"He... Kurt, I'm sorry I have to go. We've got an ambulance. I'll tell him you called."

Click.

The doctor sat there for a moment, holding his silent phone to his ear, trying to decide how he felt or what he should do next. He fell asleep before he could make up his mind.

Saturday Morning

Elly and Addy woke Kurt only an hour later, bouncing on top of him and claiming they were starving. He shooed them out quickly before they could wake Tia, then moved to put her down in the crib in her own room. The moment he shut the door though, he heard a pained cry float from the room and he leaned up against the frame for a moment, banging his head. He steeled himself with a deep breath before going back in to get her.

His dad and Carole found him close to tears thirty minutes later. A screaming Tia in his arms, a nervous looking Liam clinging desperately to one of his legs, and Addy and Elly trying their best to help by making breakfast. They were basically succeeding in making a flour and water paste that covered the kitchen floor.

Carole took one look at the circles under his eyes and that desperate look in his eyes... the one that said he might scream. She immediately took Tia and told him to go take a shower. Burt came up and gently scooped Liam up into his arms, telling the little boy how 'Grandpa Burt makes the best waffles ever.'

Kurt had never loved his parents more than in that moment.

Fifteen minutes later he emerged looking and feeling slightly human again. Carole had succeeded in lulling Tia back to sleep and had even managed to clean up the kitchen a bit with Addy's help. Burt was making waffles with the two boys. Elliott was giggling and stirring the mix happily. Liam was still quiet and looking incredibly uncertain. It was uncertainty mixed with awe though, as if he couldn't believe his luck. Kurt smiled softly at the toddler and walked up next to him, giving the child a little side hug and placing a kiss on his cheek. Liam dropped his head a little, with a bashful glance at the man, but there was a trace of a smile there.

Kurt took Tia back from Carole's arms and sighed heavily when he felt the still-feverish skin. He took one look at his step-mother and she smiled, patting his arm.

"Go on, sweetie. You probably need to get her on an antibiotic. We'll keep the others here."

"Thank you so much, Carole." He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Addy jumped to his side, begging to come along and help. Plus, she really wanted to see Blaine. Kurt took one look at the soft curls framing her face and those huge hazel eyes that were so much like her father's, and couldn't say no. He smiled and tapped her nose, telling her to hurry and get her shoes so they could leave. The moment he put Tia in the car seat they had purchased, she started crying again.

His exhaustion immediately bitch-slapped him across the face. It was going to be a long day. He suddenly remembered that they were supposed to meet with the girl from the adoption agency tomorrow. He wanted to crawl into a hole and not come out again for a few days.

Blaine sank down heavily into a chair next to the girl's hospital bed. He sighed, pushing his glasses up onto his forehead and running a hand over his tired eyes before leaning back in the chair.

He had found the girl seven hours ago. Seven hours since he had raced through the emergency room doors with this feather-light child in his arms. He opened his eyes and leaned forward to look at her face. Well, teen he supposed, not child. She seemed like a child though. So small and helpless. Not much bigger than a large child. Lord knows she probably only weighed about fifteen pounds more than Elliott, and that wasn't saying much.

He slowly reached out and took one of the thin hands in his own, checking her pulse. After not being able to find one right away last night, he kept checking at random, just for his peace of mind.

He shook is head, feeling an overwhelming sadness flow through him as he softly held and stroked her fingers. She had managed one sentence last night. In the whirlwind of staff checking her, sticking her with needles, desperately trying to warm her... she had managed to mumble one sentence, so softly Blaine almost missed it.

"Please. Don't bother."

Blaine was the only one who had heard it, he was sure. Everyone else was still moving at a lightning pace while he seemed to freeze momentarily in time. He had looked at her closed eyes and shallow breathing, and wondered if he had imagined it. He couldn't take that chance. He had leaned down close to her and whispered by her ear.

"I will always bother. Don't you give up. I won't let you."

He had pressed a light kiss to her hair before straightening up and quickly helping the another nurse with a warming blanket.

He had sat there, all night. The E.R. had been overwhelmed with patients and understaffed that evening, and he couldn't bear the thought of this child being alone. Especially after what she had whispered. It also became apparent, after a few hours, that no one was coming for her.

All of their initial searches had left them empty handed. She had no identification on her. There were no police reports of missing girls that matched her description and Social Services didn't have anything on her either. For the moment, until she woke, she was a Jane Doe. This young girl, barely in her teens, had no shelter, no food, no clothing (they had disposed of what she had) and now, no name.

He sat by her in silence. Holding her hand. Hoping she somehow knew that she wasn't alone.

Kurt walked into the hospital, Tia in his arms and Addy trailing by his side. The first grader was happily toting a diaper bag that equaled about a third of her body weight, tripping a little every five steps or so when the weight of it caught up to her and tipped her backward. Kurt would catch her every time with a tired sigh and a slightly forced smile. He was never grumpy with the kids and it bothered him that he was on the edge of being so.

Simone and Lisa were standing at the nurse's station, leaning close and chatting when he walked down the hall.

"Hey there, daddy. You look like you're about to keel over," Simone patted his arm sympathetically. She took the diaper bag from Addy and swung the girl up onto the counter, handing her a sucker. Kurt was about to argue that it was too early for a sucker, but then decided that it wasn't a battle worth fighting.

Lisa took Tia from his arms and quickly swung her back and forth, attempting to soothe the whimpering child. She met Kurt's eyes for a moment, noting the deep purple bruises and how underweight the child was. He nodded in a tired way and gave her a sad smile.

"What can we do to help out?" Simone asked, giving him a look like he'd better not say no. Kurt smiled and held a prescription in the air.

"Get this filled for Tia and watch both girls for a few minutes while I track down my husband."

Simone snatched it from his hand before pointing down the hall to a patient's room. The two nurses took off with the girls and he felt as if he could finally breath.

The doctor's heart melted at the sight before him when he entered the patient's room. To be perfectly honest, he had been more than a little bit pissed at his husband since about midnight. The rational side of him had known that Blaine wouldn't have left him alone with a crying baby without good reason, but it was hard to be rational when you were that freaking tired.

He sighed as he sank down into another chair and ran a hand over the mess of dark curls. Blaine had fallen asleep with his face down in his arms on the edge of the hospital bed. He was wearing his dark framed glasses since he had been about to go to bed before the last minute trip to the hospital. They were pushed up onto his forehead and slightly askew. The doctor gently pulled the glasses away and folded them, sliding them into his pocket.

He sat back in the chair with his fingers clasped together under his chin as he observed the patient. He sighed heavily, taking in her appearance. Was it just him or were there an abundance of neglected children right now? He was already feeling overwhelmed and heartbroken over Tia and Liam. The sight of this girl was almost too much for him to handle. He took her chart in his hand, skimming through it quickly. His eyes widened when he read how Blaine had found her and taken care of her. He squinted, trying to read a messy note that Blaine had scribbled at the bottom of the chart. His heart stopped for just a moment and he felt tears pricking the corners of his eyes when he realized what it said.

~When we first brought her in, she said to me, "Please, don't bother." When you work with this girl, please let her know that we care. That she matters. Whatever her story is, she needs this from us.~

Kurt couldn't stop the tears that flowed out then. He looked at his beautiful husband, curls sticking up on end, circles under his eyes, holding onto the girl's thin hand. He could not have been more in love with this man if he tried. All thoughts of annoyance and irritation left his mind. How could he fault someone for loving just a bit too much?

"Blaine," he said softly, carding his fingers through his husband's hair once more. The nurse stiffened for a moment before lifting his head and blinking sleepily up at his husband. Suddenly his eyes widened in surprise and he started to look panicked.

Kurt smiled genuinely and continued to run his fingers through the curls. "Hello there. I can tell you right now that our bed would have been a much more comfortable place to sleep, though, actually, you may not have gotten any since there was a screaming baby in our room all night. You may have made the better choice."

"Oh my god! Baby, I am so, so sorry about last night! So much happened, and it was awful, and my phone died, and..."

Kurt leaned in and stopped him with a kiss.

"Hey. Just stop. I'm not mad at you. We're both in the medical field. These things happen. It was pretty sucky timing, but that's not your fault. I read her chart... honey, I'm sorry. It must have been awful to find her out there like that. I saw the note you wrote too. Oh my god, honey. I know you. That absolutely broke your heart, didn't it?"

Blaine glanced down at the pale, thin hand he was holding and nodded slowly.

"I couldn't leave her, Kurt. Not completely alone... I just couldn't."

Kurt nodded back, stroking his arm. Blaine looked back at the doctor with a sad smile and leaned over for another kiss. He let out a deep breath and squeezed the hand one more time

"I guess I've done all I can for right now though. She's really doing better. Her body temperature is back to normal and some of her color is coming back. We've been pumping her full of fluids, she was severely dehydrated. Simone took some blood to check her levels about an hour ago. I'm guessing they'll look much better now."

Kurt nodded, reaching over to hold the nurse's other hand. "Do we know anything about her yet? Has anyone come looking for her?"

Blaine shook his head silently. Kurt's heart sank as he glanced back to the pale, angelic looking face resting on the pillow.

"Was there any sign of..." He couldn't say it out loud. His heart was so heavy with the weight of the world right now. Even voicing something like that seemed like too much to handle.

"No." Blaine shook his head quickly. Smiling a little for the first time. Kurt sighed in relief. "Malnourishment, dehydration and slight hypothermia... But she seemed completely fine otherwise."

The doctor nodded, rubbing his hand over his eyes sleepily before plopping his chin down into his palm.

"What's the next course of action?"

"We wait until she wakes up. See if we can find out anything about her family. If there isn't anybody to care for her..." Blaine sat back roughly in his chair, showing his frustration. "Social Services steps in." Kurt furrowed his brow.

"What's wrong with that, baby? Look at Tia and Liam. They ended up in a good home with us. That can happen for her too."

Blaine looked over at his husband sadly and shook his head.

"It doesn't work that easily with teens, honey. So many people would rather take on little ones than teenagers. They see it as too much of a challenge. If she truly doesn't have a family, or at least one that is going to take care of her, it's not going to be easy to find a good place for her."

Kurt stared at him, heart starting to race.

"Blaine, I know what's going through your head. I can see it in your eyes. There is no possible way. We didn't even handle last night well! My parents had to rescue me this morning! It would be irresponsible for us to even consider taking on more kids. We don't even know how..."

The doctor trailed off then. Blaine was nodding in understanding, showing that he agreed.

Agreed in his head anyway.

It was obvious that his heart was saying something completely different. When Kurt stopped thinking for a moment, and just let himself feel... he realized that his heart was saying the exact same thing.

"Let's just see what we find out when she wakes up. We can go from there," Kurt whispered in a rough voice. Blaine's head shot up to look Kurt in the eye, completely surprised.

"You would be open to the possibility?"

"Blaine, I'm the one who specifically wanted a house full of kids... kids who really need us. Kids who have no one else. Kids that we can love. If we have the room and the money to take on more... why wouldn't we?"

Blaine blinked quickly, wondering for the millionth time if this man was real.

"I just have one request though."

"Anything, baby." Blaine grinned.

"If we are going to turn into the Von Trapp family and have tons of kids, can we hire a Maria like they did? I feel like we're probably going to drown if we try to do this on our own."

Blaine laughed then.

"Can we compare ourselves to the Brady Bunch instead and get an Alice? The dad in 'Sound of Music' ends up falling for the nanny. I'd prefer for that NOT to happen in our case."

"Sure, baby." Kurt leaned over to give his husband a kiss and pulled him to his feet. "We'll be the Brady Bunch... with much better hair."

"Alright then. You can have yourself an Alice." Blaine checked on Brandi one last time before squeezing her hand lightly, then linking his fingers with Kurt's.

"Oh, don't forget. We meet with the girl from the adoption agency tomorrow afternoon." Kurt looked at him pointedly. Blaine paled. In all of the drama, he had totally forgotten about the success of their original quest for a baby.

"Make that two Alice's. I think we're gonna need all the help we can get."

Kurt laughed and wrapped his arm around his husband's waist.

Brandi's heart was almost beating out of her chest. She had been slowly waking up over the last couple of hours, but hadn't found the energy to open her eyes or make any attempt at communication. To be perfectly honest, she hadn't cared to try at first. She was even a little angry that the doctors and nurses had worked so hard to save her. Didn't they know that they were only delaying the inevitable?

Now she was lying there, eyes still closed, working her hardest not to show that she was awake. She still couldn't believe what she had just heard.

She had a vague memory from last night of someone whispering in her ear...

"I will always bother. Don't you give up. I won't let you."

She honestly thought that she had been dreaming. No one would say something like that to her. No one cared that much.

Now she wasn't so sure though. The words coming from the two men next to her bed were like a dream come true.

"Let's just see what we find out when she wakes up. We can go from there."

"You would be open to the possibility?"

"Blaine, I'm the one who specifically wanted a house full of kids... kids who really need us. Kids who have no one else. Kids that we can love. If we have the room and the money to take on more... why wouldn't we?"

Brandi felt something, deep inside. It was a strange, niggling feeling that she didn't recognize. It had been so long, if ever, that she had felt it. Growing within her, warming her from the inside out, was a seed of hope.