"But Daddy, I don'twantto see a new doctor," Ellie whined, her legs dangling from the chair next to him. She had her arms crossed in a display of pure toddler stubbornness and it was all Kurt could do not to laugh - she was just so adorable sometimes.

"I'm sure you'll like this one just as much, sweetie," he assured her. However, she wasn't about to let the subject drop.

"I want Dr. Moray back."

"Dr. Murray," he corrected her with a small smile. "And he retired, remember?"

"He should come back. He's my doctor." Kurt sighed; now it was just getting wearisome.

Thankfully, he was saved by the nurse, who opened the door and called out, "Elizabeth?"

Ellie leaped to her feet despite her reservations and walked purposefully towards the nurse. "It's Ellie," she said curtly, staring up at this new person.

"I'm sorry, Ellie. My name is Kathrine, but you can call me Kat if you want," the nurse said, smiling.

"Kat," Ellie hummed, trying it out. "I like that name!"

"That's good. And you must be Mr. Hummel?" she asked as Kurt walked up to them.

"Just Kurt is fine," he said. They shook hands, and Kat led them to another room with colorful paintings on the walls - presumably to distract the kids from the medical equipment.

"Okay Ellie, you get to sit in this big chair here," Kat said. "I'm just going to ask you a few questions, okay?" Ellie nodded, her eyes wide. Kurt sat down in the other chair, crossed his legs, and took her small hand in his own, rubbing her knuckles comfortingly.

Ellie answered all the usual questions to the best of her ability, occasionally glancing over at her dad when she couldn't remember. It was clear that Kat was impressed by her, and Kurt preened a bit at the observation; after all, she washisdaughter. No one else's, not anymore at least.

Kurt shook his head - this wasn't the time to think about all of that. Ellie was getting her routine biannual check-up, then they were going out for a father-daughter lunch at their favorite café in Brooklyn. James had nothing to do with any of it, and Kurt wasn't about to let his leftover, unruly emotions ruin their day.

The remaining questions took only a few minutes and Kat stood up, thanking Ellie for her cooperation.

"Dr. Anderson will be in soon to finish your check-up," she said with a last smile before slipping out the door.

"I bet Dr. Anderson is a big ol' meanie," Ellie huffed, her arms returning to their crossed position. "He's probably super old and grumpy and has no hair."

"No hair? That would be a disaster." Ellie nodded seriously, and Kurt couldn't help but chuckle.

"Ellie Rose, you are ridiculous," he sighed, suddenly standing up. He picked Ellie up from the chair, ignoring her squeak of surprise, and spun around the room. He was getting dizzy, but he didn't care; Ellie was giggling loudly and her face radiated joy - how could he care?

Just then the door opened with a soft creaking noise, and Kurt stumbled as he tried to steady himself in spite of the momentum that seemed determined to keep him spinning. Damn laws of nature, he thought, finally coming to a stop so he could see who'd arrived.

Oh.

Standing just inside the door, grinning widely at them, was a man just a bit shorter than Kurt. His dark hair, though clearly gelled to some extent, showed signs of being naturally curly. His eyes, like honey, were nearly hidden behind the way his face scrunched up from his broad smile - it was infectious, and Kurt had no choice but to grin almost as widely back.

Once again, he thought,damn laws of nature.

"Hi!" Kurt winced at his voice, which had gone up in pitch. He cleared his throat to try again. "Sorry- Hi, you must be Dr. Anderson."

"That's me, but Dr. Anderson sounds way too formal. I'm Blaine," he said. "And you're Mr. Hummel?"

"Way too formal," Kurt repeated, teasing. "You can call me Kurt."

"Kurt it is, then," Blaine said with a wink before shifting his gaze to the little girl still in Kurt's arms. "And you have to be Ellie, right?"

Ellie nodded, burying her face in Kurt's chest.

"Oh, honey-"

"We can just talk for a bit, if you want," Blaine said, settling himself in the chair that Kat had recently vacated. "We have all the time in the world."

"Okay," Ellie said shyly, finally looking up. Kurt took this as a good sign and put her down; she clambered back into the chair, suddenly appearing frightened of the equipment around it. Kurt returned to his seat as well, taking her hand again.

"You have very pretty eyes," Blaine said to her, smiling softly.

"Thank you," she said. "Grampa Burt says I got my Daddy's eyes."

"Your Grampa Burt is right." Blaine's eyes flickered up to meet Kurt's for a moment. "Beautiful."

Kurt looked away; he thought he might do or say something stupid if he stared at Blaine any longer. Or something decidedly not child-appropriate.

"Anyways," Blaine continued, returning his attention to Ellie. "Let's start with something easy. What is your favorite movie?"

"Oh no, don't get her started on that," Kurt said, putting his face in his hands as Ellie visibly perked up.

"Well, I really like The Lion King, but Tangled is good too. I like The Aristocats, and Bambi, and Brother Bear, and Up, and The Little Mermaid, and Jurassic Park-"

"Whoa there," Blaine said, laughing. "Jurassic Park?"

"I like dinosaurs," she said, shrugging. Blaine looked at Kurt, eyebrows raised.

"Don't ask me, I have no idea where she got it. I was a plan-weddings-for-power-rangers kid."

"No other influence?" Kurt swallowed, understanding the intent of the question. When he didn't answer, Blaine's expression turned apologetic. "I'm sorry, it's not my place to ask, I don't know why-"

"No, it's fine," Kurt said. Blaine gave him a dubious look. "Really. He and I just... Let's just say that it was nice when we weren't attached, but adding a ring and some promises threw everything to pieces. You know how it goes sometimes."

"No, yeah, I get it," Blaine said quickly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, you were curious, and you're sweet. If anyone else had asked-"

"-Daddy would have gotten really quiet and scary. He's good at that."

"Thank you, Ellie."

"You're welcome, Daddy. I love you," she said happily. Kurt laughed, shaking his head.

"I love you too, honey." Kurt noticed Blaine watching them with an odd expression - was that longing? Or just thoughtful? But just as he started trying to decipher it, it was gone, the professional Dr. Anderson returning to the conversation.

"I think we've all gotten comfortable - are you ready for this, Ellie?" he asked, still warm and sweet but clearly more polished and brisk.

"Yep!"

Kurt watched as Blaine did the usual - a check of the ears ("Gotta make sure there aren't any little monsters in there!") a look at the eyes ("There are a lot of people that would love to have eyes like yours, Ellie.") and a listen to the heartbeat (complete with a short rendition of Stereo Hearts that had Kurt smiling again, what is with me today?) among other things.

Soon enough, the check-up was over, and Blaine slid his chair over to a table against the far wall, opening one of the drawers. He motioned for Ellie to join him, and she skipped over immediately, eyes wide in anticipation.

"Which one would you like?" Blaine asked, pulling the drawer open further so that Kurt could see as well. The drawer was full of plastic dinosaur toys, everything from Triceratops to Tyrannosaurus Rex. Ellie gasped out loud at the sight.

"Wow, that's a lot of dinosaurs," she said, clearly unable to choose. "Doctor Blaine?"

"Yes?"

"Do you like Stegosaurus or Veloca- Velociraptor better?"

"Hm, that's a tough decision. Stegosaurs are pretty cool, though. They don't get the recognition they deserve, so I think I'd pick that one."

"Okay," Ellie said, pulling a Stegosaurus toy out of the drawer. "I'll name him Blaine!"

"Wow, that's a pretty big honor right there," Blaine said, grinning. "Thank you, Ellie."

Ellie nodded, tottering on her feet in uncertainty for a moment before leaning up to hug Blaine, who accepted it with a surprised glance at Kurt, who shrugged. Ellie didn't usually connect with people so quickly - she was a lot like Kurt.

Then again, Kurt was surprising himself with how swiftly he'd taken to this playful, adorable, handsome pediatrician that apparently already knew the way to his daughter's heart. Kurt wondered how long it would take for Blaine to find his way tohisheart - but maybe he already had.

When Kurt and Ellie said their goodbyes and Blaine had left the room, Kurt allowed himself to breathe. This wasn't high school, or even college - this was real life, and he couldn't afford to fall in love again.

Oh God, did I just call it love?

But Kurt knew, somewhere, that there was a very good chance of that happening with Blaine. And he couldn't, not after the catastrophe that had been James. It just wasn't worth it, not the way his seventeen year-old self had imagined.

He had Ellie, and his parents, and Finn - even Rachel. That was good enough for him.

Ellie was out the door before Kurt even had a chance to clear his thoughts; he followed her to make sure she didn't take a wrong turn anywhere but, thankfully, she seemed to remember the path. He passed by a small room and heard his name.

"Kurt, wait!"

Kurt turned around, surprised to see Blaine standing there, an envelope in hand.

"Just a, um, thing that I was supposed to give you," he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Okay," Kurt said slowly, taking it. "Thank you again for being so good with Ellie."

"Oh, I didn't have to do much. She's an amazing little girl."

"That she is," Kurt agreed. "I'd better catch up to her before she ends up in the emergency room or something, though." Blaine chuckled, glancing down at the floor - was he blushing?

"That's probably a good idea. See you in six months," he said with a little wave. "Or maybe..."

"What?"

"Oh, I just- nevermind," he said in a rush. "Bye!" And with that, he was back in what Kurt assumed was his office, the door swinging shut. Kurt stood there for a few moments, a bit disconcerted, before finally hurrying to find Ellie, who was standing in the waiting room with her hands on her hips.

"Daddy, you're slow," she said by way of greeting.

"Gee, thanks."

They pulled their jackets from the rack and put them on, ready to brave the cool April breeze. They were walking down a hall in the hospital when Ellie spoke.

"I like Dr. Blaine," she said conversationally. "I think I like him better than Dr. Moray." Kurt didn't even bother to try to correct her this time.

"Oh?"

"You like him too, I can tell." She had a knowing look in her eyes as she stared up at him while they waited for an elevator.

"Ellie, it's probably just a little crush. It happens."In high school - you need to pull yourself together, goddamnit.

"Uh-huh," she said, her tone practically dripping with delighted sarcasm. She really was so much like himself - it was scary sometimes. He distracted her with the news of their lunch plans to avoid talking about it any longer, and it worked like a charm. They had their father-daughter day, and it was one of the best days of Kurt's life.

Later, when Ellie was fast asleep and Kurt was sifting through work documents, bills, and the like, he noticed the envelope from Blaine that he'd left on the table.

He opened it, expecting some kind of medical report, but there was just a piece of plain white paper with neat - though obviously rushed - handwriting on it in blue ink.

Hey,

This is really unprofessional of me and I'd probably lose my job if anyone found out, but you've managed to enchant me, Kurt Hummel. Would you mind meeting me outside the office sometime so we can get to know each other better?

- Blaine

Underneath the message was a phone number, and Kurt found himself adding Blaine to his contacts. And then he found himself opening a message to him and - what? He was just going to text this guy - his daughter's doctor, no less - and try to work out a date with him?

Apparently he was, as he sent the message with a tap of his finger.

He could have sworn there was something controlling him. Kurt Hummel didn't do this sort of thing, just ask out guys he barely knows in hopes of something more. It just didn't work that way - it went against his very nature.

Nature can go screw itself over, he thought as he smiled at the small name on his phone's screen. It was time to take a chance, to defy those laws of nature.He had a strange feeling that it could be worth it.