Chapter Eighteen

Anonymous - 10th February 2013

So I am officially on my twelfth week of pregnancy which means my first trimester is coming to an end. Normally that would mean that the risk of miscarriage is decreasing and most people can relax. Unfortunately, that risk remains for a man experiencing pregnancy. There isn't a safe period for me. That's pretty terrifying, I have to admit. My doctor is always telling me to relax but that seems pretty redundant if I have to constantly watch my actions. I see no logic here. Stupid doctor.

Thankfully, my morning sickness seems to be settling. There are only odd days when the dreaded sickness strikes and it seems to be holding off while I'm at school. If I were religious I'd be thanking God for that. I'm still dead tired half the time though. I spend a lot of my time napping after school. Poor Blaine. It can't be very fun for him, watching me sleep. But sometimes I can convince him to actually nap with me. He is an awesome big spoon.

Bless Blaine. He's being so sweet to me. He stopped me from having a major freak out when my favourite skinny jeans wouldn't fit this morning. He dealt with me while I raged and then promptly burst into tears. Damn these hormones.

Speaking of Blaine, I'm kind of worried about him. Each day he seems to have a new bruise. I don't know where he gets them from. I don't even see how he has the time to get into fights.

XXXX

Burt started to notice that Blaine was at the house every single day. Without fail. He didn't quite know how he seemed to have missed it before. The only reason he did actually notice was because he found himself setting the dinner table for five people automatically and if he were to think back on it, he'd been doing it for a while.

He thought that his natural reaction to that would be anger. He still didn't completely trust the kid. He'd gotten his son knocked up! But for some reason, Burt's expectations had been wrong. Instead he was pleased. So far the kid seemed to be holding onto his promise.

And Blaine being at the house seemed to make Kurt happy. Burt's boy was smiling and laughing again. Before Lizzie had died he'd promised her that he'd make sure Kurt was always happy. It had been unrealistic but Blaine was helping Burt keep his promise.

Still, he'd keep up his usual grumble. It kept the boys on their toes.

XXXX

Blaine paused in the middle of the hallway when his eyes rested on Kurt, who was stood next to his locker, rifling through whatever he had in there.

People shoved past Blaine, glaring because he had gotten in their way and stopped the usual flow of the school hallways. He didn't really care about anyone else; they weren't important to him. The only thing that held any importance was the person that he had stopped to look at.

From afar Blaine noticed something new about Kurt. He couldn't believe he'd only just realised the change. Where he was stood, Blaine could see the slight change in his boyfriend's figure; most importantly the slightly swollen abdomen. The sight had stunned him to a standstill as it was further proof of the life that they had created and Blaine was in awe of it.

But then his mood began to drop and fear prickled his senses. If he was noticing this then other people were going to start to as well. And while Blaine wanted to shout it from the rooftops, he knew that that wasn't realistic. They couldn't reveal it yet. Not in this screwed-up state.

Blaine snapped out of his thoughts and approached Kurt at his locker. He still couldn't believe that he had someone like Kurt in his life and that they were creating a life together.

Blaine knew that a lot of people said that their partner was flawless and 'God's gift to the earth' and Blaine was no different to those that did say that. The only difference was that when he said it, it was actually true. Kurt looked like an angel, so that was proof enough.

Kurt looked up at Blaine's approach and gave him that beautiful smile. But as much as Blaine loved seeing that smile, he really wanted to kiss those perfect lips. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have dared. Not here. But he was too euphoric to deny himself the opportunity.

It was clear that Kurt wasn't expecting the kiss. He took a sharp breath as Blaine's lips covered his own. However, as soon as they touched, the usual spark between them was intensified ten-fold by the pregnancy hormones that were ravaging his body. Kurt pressed himself closer to Blaine, taking control of the kiss and losing himself.

They ignored the hateful looks they were given and the sound of the school bell, signalling the start of the lesson.

Blaine's hands instinctively found the bump. The feel of that swelling beneath his hands was magical. People say that seeing is believing but being able to touch, to feel, was more powerful than any of that.

Their kiss was interrupted by a hard shove. Automatically Blaine crushed Kurt close to him so that he wouldn't go crashing into the lockers behind him. Angrily he turned to see what ignorant bully had pushed them. Fear and fury mixed together when he saw that it was Karofsky and he would have gone after him if he couldn't feel Kurt's slight trembling in his arms.

Then a horrible and disgusting thought entered Blaine's head and he was nearly sick right there and then.

Karofsky had touched Kurt, sexually harassed him, while Blaine's baby was starting to form in Kurt. Blaine was torn between running after Karofsky and killing him, and vomiting.

He did neither. Instead he held Kurt tighter and kept his mouth shut. If Kurt wasn't already thinking it, he didn't want to put that thought there.

Kurt cleared his throat, breaking the tension. "Not that I'm complaining but what exactly was that?"

"Why can't I just kiss you because I love you?"

"Of course you can." Kurt grinned. "So come on, spill."

"You're starting to show." Blaine said quietly.

Kurt blushed and looked down at himself. He'd thought that his clothes would hide it.

"It looks even more impressive without clothes getting in the way. I can show you later." Kurt said giving Blaine a suggestive look.

XXXX

Kurt knew that Blaine was overjoyed with the emergence of the baby bump. Ever since he'd discovered it, his hands had barely left Kurt alone. When they snuggled together, Blaine's hands would stroke the bump and when Blaine hugged him from behind his hands would rest on it.

Someone who wasn't so excited about it was Kurt. Yes, he was happy that it meant that the baby was growing and yes, the extra attention was great. But the weight gain and the change in his figure he hated. Kurt was ashamed to say that he had issues with his body image.

He was the guy who had carried his baby fat with him through till the end of sophomore year. If it hadn't been for the transformation he'd undergone over that summer between the two years, he doubted that Blaine would have even looked twice at him. His fear was that this pregnancy would take him straight back there.

This was only the beginning, so Kurt tried to focus on other things.

Like that it was finally Friday and after school Blaine and he were going to celebrate the end of the first trimester as well as Valentine's Day. They weren't going to do anything fancy, just dinner at Breadstix and then a movie but to Kurt it was perfect.

So when Blaine didn't turn up to school, Kurt would admit that he was worried. For a second his mind wandered back to a few months previous. He stopped that thought process. Blaine was way too excited about this baby to desert them.

Then again, he wouldn't just leave Kurt unprotected at school. Sometimes Kurt felt like the crown jewels with the way that Blaine treated him sometimes. No, he had a bad feeling about Blaine's absence.

Either way, he didn't feel safe at school without Blaine anymore. There was no way he was staying. No, he'd go to see if Blaine was alright. There was something about this that didn't feel right. A gut feeling.

Kurt turned and started to head to his car when he realised that he had no idea where Blaine actually lived. Never once in the whole time that they had known each other had Blaine mentioned where he lived. The feeling in Kurt's stomach got worse and it was as if a puzzle piece slid into place.

XXXX

"Finn! Hey Finn! Wait up!" Kurt called his stepbrother as he was about to make his way into the locker room.

"Oh, hey Du- I mean Kurt. What are you doing here? Where's Blaine?" He knew that Kurt tended to avoid the locker rooms.

"I'm looking for Puck."

"Puck?" Finn asked, even more confused now.

"Yep that's the guy."

"Well he just had maths so he's probably taking a nap in the nurse's office."

"Thanks Finn!" Kurt called, already departing.

Finn watched him go, more confused than ever.

"What just happened?"

XXXX

Puck was exactly where Finn had said he would be. He had just woken up when Kurt found him.

"What can I do for you princess?" Puck asked, instantly knowing that this wasn't going to be a social conversation, something which Kurt was thankful for.

"I need you to do something for me. But if you get caught you'll get into a lot of trouble. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important." Kurt rushed out in one breath.

"Sounds like my kind of fun. What do you need me to do?"

"I need Blaine's address out of his file."

Puck raised an eyebrow in surprise but he didn't question the request. That was the one good thing about Puck. He was a 'no questions asked' kind of guy.

"And what do I get out of it?"

"I will bake you as many of my famous cookies as you want for the next month." Kurt said without hesitation.

"I will accept that offer." Puck loved the cookies that Kurt made, there was no way he was going to be able to resist them.

XXXX

Kurt sat in his Navigator on the street that Blaine lived on. As soon as Puck had grabbed the address he'd skipped out on school, ditching the rest of his lessons. His dad would probably kill him for it later but he'd worry about that another time.

Looking towards the house that Blaine supposedly lived in filled Kurt with dread. Compared to its neighbouring houses it looked like a wreck. The garden was overgrown with weeds everywhere. Old furniture had been abandoned, left to rot or become a home to wildlife.

The outside of the house looked grubby and run down. Across the wall someone had spray painted the word 'Fag' in bright red. One of the upstairs windows looked like it had had a brick thrown through it.

Kurt was dubious about the house and afraid to go inside. But that same sick feeling was still in his stomach. He had to at least check if Blaine was here.

Slowly he got out of the car and hesitantly made his way towards the creepy place. He knocked quietly on the door and then waited a minute before knocking louder. Still there wasn't an answer.

Unsure he tried the handle and the door opened. Before Kurt could give himself time to back out, he stepped through the doorway.

The inside was just as messy as the outside. There was old take-out rubbish piled on tables and sides and all over the floor. What worried Kurt the most was the amount of beer cans all over the floor.

"Blaine!" Kurt called, desperately wanting to get out of this house. "Blaine! Are you here?"

"Kurt? What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here." Blaine's voice sounded weak and very unlike him.

Kurt followed the sound to the basement and quietly he crept down the stairs, turning on the light as he went. He let out a choked sob when he saw Blaine.

His boyfriend was propped up against the wall. He was shirtless and the beautiful body that Kurt usually admired was covered in bruises. His face was in the same state, with dried blood caked to it. One of his eyes was swollen shut.

Running toward him, Kurt dropped to his knees in front of the broken boy that he loved. He resisted touching him, wanting to avoid causing him anymore pain.

"Blaine! What happened?" Kurt sobbed.

The one good eye that Blaine had, focused properly on Kurt and with a wince he tried to reach out a hand to comfort him. He was hurting like hell but as usual Kurt was more important to him.

"Kurt. You need to get out of here." Blaine groaned.

"I'm not leaving you. I can't leave you in this place. It was your dad, wasn't it? No, I won't leave you here. Let me help you."

Blaine tried to avoid Kurt's help but in the end he found himself leaning heavily on Kurt as the pregnant boy helped to manoeuvre him out of the basement. Kurt left Blaine on the stairs as he went to find Blaine's room so that he could pack a bag for him.

Gently he helped Blaine to put on a shirt and then he helped him to the car. With one last look toward the house, Kurt pulled away from the kerb, leaving the house and the street behind.