Chapter Six

Joey cried when Connor had to go back to Los Angeles, and spent time trying to convince Connor to stay there and play with him. Thankfully he behaved well enough at the train station though tears did happen, inevitably. Kurt and Blaine tried to console him by saying that he could help with preparing the room for when Connor would be returning to stay in January and it did help a little bit because Joey liked to be helpful and have an influence on different things in the apartment.

It took a weekend and Joey going back to school before the little boy would stop moping about it though. For the next few weeks, while Blaine was working on his assignment for a duet with Whitney, Joey and Kurt spent a lot of time with Tommy and his mother. It was clear that Joey and Tommy were going to be the best of friends although Joey showed a lot more confidence than Tommy did.

Tommys mother, Susan was a lovely lady. Kurt was a little concerned because of his age and orientation and he had doubted that he would ever make friends with any of the other parents and he knew that it was something he needed to at least try for Joeys sake. Luckily Susan seemed to be a very accepting person. She was an average housewife and her husband apparently had some boring business job that left in flying in and out of the country and he barely had enough time to spend any time with his children. Despite that, Susan had five children, three girls that were older than Tommy and another girl that was a year old. It was easy to see why Tommy might be a little bit quite, having to contend with that amount of sisters. Joey was very much taken with Tommys little sister, Julie which Kurt could tell annoyed Tommy a little bit though he would never speak up about it. Kurt tried to encourage Joey to go and play rather than sit and watch the little girl, playing with her baby toys.

Whenever they came home from a play date with Tommy the conversation of a baby brother or sister always came up with Joey. They hadnt even gotten round to explaining how babies were made and they would need to have that conversation so that joey could understand a bit more, why he wouldnt be getting the sibling he seemed to so desperately want.

It wasnt that Kurt and Blaine didnt want any more children, on the contrary, they would love to have one or two more but they knew that it wasnt a sensible idea to do anything like that now. Blaine was still in education and Kurt had only just got his first job, they couldnt afford to add any more stress into their lives at the minute. That was why Kurt and Blaine were always sure to be sensible and use protection, they didnt want to be forced before they were ready. Joey was perfect for now, they just had to get the little boy to see that.

XXXX

Blaine and Whitney walked out of their tutor office, after having handed in the sheet music for their duet and both of them were relieved to have finished it. Half of the grade for this assignment would be based on the sheet music that they had just handed in and the other half would be based on how well they could perform it together. The college was going to hold a recital where all of the duets would be performed and Blaine was eager to invite Kurt and Joey to come and watch him. Any performances before this, he and Kurt had felt that Joey was a little young to sit through something like that but both of them now felt that hed be alright for sitting through it and behaving without getting bored. Blaine couldnt wait to go home and tell them about it. He felt pretty sure that he had done really well with this assignment, it was a pretty great start to the year.

When Blaine got home he brought it up with Kurt and he was immediately on board with Blaines idea of bringing Joey. And of course Joey was very enthusiastic about the idea. Hed yet to go to any kind of live show of any kind, something that appalled Rachel, but Kurt and Blaine knew that there was a certain etiquette at these events and it wasnt a place for a screaming baby or toddler. Kurt made sure to explain to Joey that he had to be on his best behaviour while they were watching the performances and he couldnt "boo" anything that he didnt like. Kurt couldnt deny how proud he felt when Joey asked if it would be good to wear his new waistcoat and bow-tie that he had brought a little while ago but hadnt had the chance to wear.

There was another week before the recital so Blaine explained that he would probably be out a lot, perfecting the song with Whitney and Kurt was fully understanding, as long as Blaine was always home at a decent time so that he and Joey could spend some time together. Kurt never wanted Blaine to miss out on things with Joey but it was hard sometimes because of Blaines college schedule which meant Joey spent a lot more time with Kurt than he had with Blaine. They were quite luckily that Joey didnt mind the fact either. He was very intelligent for his age.

XXXX

Blaine paced nervously backstage while Whitney applied some more of her make-up, seeming totally relaxed.

Out there in that audience was the love of his life and his son. The two people that meant more to him than anything else and he really wanted to do them proud. He hadnt had a chance to see them beforehand but Kurt had text him to let him know that they were here.

Blaines friend Martin gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Youll be fine mate. Kurt and Joey wont know what hit them."

Blaine nodded, knowing that there probably wouldnt be a problem with them enjoying his performance but it was still nerve-wracking.

"You ready partner?" Whitney asked. "Were on next."

"As Ill ever be." Blaine confirmed.

Blaine took a deep breath as his and Whitneys names were called on the stage and he walked out with her, walking over to the piano, while Whitney collected a mic and stood next to him, by the piano. He looked out at the audience and spotted Kurt and Joey, who had actually managed to somehow get seats in the front row. They both grinned at him and Blaine couldnt help but give them a smile back. He turned back to the piano and started playing the first notes of the song.

"You tell all the boys "No"
Makes you feel good, yeah.
I know youre out of my league
But that wont scare me away, oh, no

Youve carried on so long,
You couldnt stop if you tried it.
Youve built your wall so high
That no one could climb it,
But Im gonna try"

Back in high school, when Blaine had just been admiring Kurt from afar, too afraid to actually approach him properly he had always thought that Kurt was way too good for him. He was a screw up and he thought that no one could possibly love him. These days he still thought that Kurt was too good for him but he was going to hang onto him no matter what.

"Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?
Would you let me see beneath your perfect?
Take it off now, girl, take it off now, girl
I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?"

There was a pause before the percussion started and Whitney began singing her part.

"You let all the girls go
Makes you feel good, dont it?
Behind your Broadway show
I heard a boy say, "Please, dont hurt me"

Youve carried on so long
You couldnt stop if you tried it.
Youve built your wall so high
That no one could climb it,
But Im gonna try

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?
Would you let me see beneath your perfect?
Take it off now, boy, take it off now, boy
I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight, oh, tonight?"

No one could deny that Whitney was an amazing singer. Her rough personality deceived people into thinking that she couldnt sing something softly like this but she was actually able to alter her style so that she could sing the verses.

The next part they sang together their voices mixing perfectly.

"Im gonna climb on top your ivory tower
Ill hold your hand and then well jump right out
Well be falling, falling but thats OK
Cause Ill be right here
I just wanna know"

They sang the last verse and as they finished, everyone applauded them, making Blaine instantly relaxed. He looked over to see Joey jumping up and down excitedly, with Kurt trying to calm him down a little. The look that Kurt had on his face was the proudest look that was only reserved for Blaine and Joey.

XXXX

Blaines performance was simply breath-taking. Kurt had adored it and was so proud that his boyfriend could put together something like that. Blaine and his friend had been the last to perform so Kurt was going to take Joey back stage to see his papa before he exploded with excitement.

He took Joeys hand and started getting out of their seats and around to get through to backstage. Kurt was eager to meet Whitney in all honesty. He had seen the way that she looked at Blaine. She had had lust in her eyes and Kurt didnt know whether she didnt know that Blaine was gay or she just thought that she could change that fact. Kurt couldnt help but get a little territorial, even though he knew that Blaine was completely gay and wasnt very likely to leave him and Joey. He doubted that Blaine even realised that Whitney had a thing for him as Blaine often tended to be a bit oblivious to stuff like that.

"Papa!" Joey yelled when he caught sight of Blaine backstage. His hand slipped out of Kurts and he hurtled towards Blaine, who managed to capture him up in a hug as Kurt made his way more slowly towards him.

"Hi." Kurt greeted Blaine, leaning past Joey to give Blaine a sweet and simple kiss.

"You were so good Papa! And everyone clapped for you and that girl, it was so cool!" Joey talked excitedly, being held up in Blaines arms.

"Wait, hold up. Youre gay and you have a son?" Whitney asked looking utterly confused and Blaine felt bad that he had never brought it up.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, everyone already knew, I forgot that you wouldnt exactly know. But yeah, this is my boyfriend, Kurt and this is our son Joey." Blaine introduced them, hoping that Kurt wouldnt be upset that Blaine hadnt mentioned anything before then.

"Pleased to meet ya." Joey said, giving Whitney a handshake as Kurt said his own greeting.

"Hes a little cutie. You can definitely see Blaine in him. What was his mother like?" Whitney asked, tactlessly.

"I dont got a mummy." Joey said, looking toward Kurt for confirmation even though he already knew it to be true.

"Yeah, Kurt has a special gene that means that he can carry a baby. Joey is biologically both of ours." Blaine explained.

"Wow, thats kind of weird. I guess you learn something new every day." Whitney said.

"Yeah I guess so." Kurt said, tightly. He understood not knowing about something but to call something like that weird, especially in front of Joey made him a little angry.

"Well we better head off. Im going out to dinner with my favourite guys. It was great working with you Whitney. Im sure weve aced it." Blaine gave her a smile, before letting Joey down gently and collecting his stuff.

Joey instantly stood closely to Kurt, holding his daddys hand, and looking a bit confused and upset. Kurt knew that it would be easy to wipe that frown off of Joeys face while they were at dinner but he hated that the frown was there already.

One thing was for certain, Kurt didnt particularly like Whitney, even if she was Blaines friend.