Fic: One Hundred and One
Title: One Hundred and One
Word Count: 1350
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: Blaine/Kurt, their daughter
Spoilers: none
Summary: Their daughter's first fever has Blaine a little shaken up.
This was written for the theme 'parenthood' for firstklainekit on tumblr. If anyone wants to pop over and say hi or nudge me with a prompt, my tumblr is here.
It isn't really a cry coming through the baby monitor, more of a sad little whimper. It wakes Blaine nonetheless. He sits up and listens - and there it is again: a distressed, pathetic mewling.
He jumps out of bed and Kurt rolls over, muttering under his breath. Two strides and Blaine is out of their room, and one more to the door of their daughter's.
She is curled up in the fetal position, her eyes wide and glassy and her lips dark red and pouting. “What's the matter, Sweet Pea?” Blaine asks her. She makes eye contact and shivers, another pained whine escaping her lips. He reaches down to pick her up and she makes halfhearted grabby hands.
As soon as Blaine touches her skin he gasps in shock. She is hot to the touch. Hotter than a human body is meant to be. He wraps her in a blanket and snuggles her against his chest, trying to quiet her shivering before hurrying back into his own room to wake Kurt.
“Kurt!” His voice sounds panicked even to his own ears. “Kurt, wake up! It's Katie - she's burning up!”
Kurt rolls over onto his back and blinks up at them. He licks his lips and rubs a hand across his eyes before responding. “Did you take her temperature?”
“What? No. I just found her like this. Is that what I should do? I can call a cab and we can take her to the emergency room. I -”
“Blaine,” Kurt says; he's using his soothing voice. “Hand her to me and I'll take her temperature. You go get the Tylenol, okay? It'll be okay. Come on.” He's holding his hands out to take the baby, who Blaine realizes he's been holding closer to his chest and shifting away from Kurt's arms.
“Sorry,” he says, and Kurt gives him a smile. He hands over their daughter and books it to the bathroom to get what he needs from the medicine cabinet.
When he comes out, Kurt and Katie are in Katie's room. He has her nestled in his arms, cooing at her as they rock back and forth in the rocking chair. Blaine can hear the regular beeps of the thermometer. It lets off one last series of low beeps to signal that it's done. Kurt takes it out of her ear and holds it in front of his eyes. “One-oh-one,” he says. “Do you have the Tylenol?”
Blaine doesn't understand how he can remain so calm about it. One hundred and one! Maybe he's still half asleep. Kurt must see something in Blaine's eyes, because he smiles before leaning down to peck Katie on the top of the head. “I know that sounds high, but babies run hotter than adults and she seems pretty alert. It's not too bad. Let's get medicine into her and cool her down.”
She takes the dropper full of syrup without a fuss, smacking her lips together afterwards. She looks up at Blaine, her wide, glassy eyes full of questions. “Daaadeee?”
“Oh, Sweet Pea, that's going to help you feel better, okay?”
Kurt gets up from the rocking chair and unwinds the blanket from around Katie's body, dropping it on the vacated chair. Then he begins to remove her pyjamas.
“Kurt, what are you doing? She's freezing.” He motions to their quaking little girl and Kurt coos at her again.
“She's not, Blaine. It's just the fever. I know it seems cruel, but we need to get her body temperature down and get some fluids into her. Okay?”
Blaine nods once and winces as his little princess gives a particularly violent shiver. “Babe, can you wet a cloth? Cold would be best, but maybe make it a little warmer? Just tepid, okay?”
Kurt seems to realize that Blaine might be freaking out, just a little, and that what he really needs is a job to do. He goes back to the bathroom and wets a wash cloth, making the water warmer than he probably should, but it's his baby, and she's shivering!
He meets them in the living room and Kurt takes the cloth. He raises one eyebrow when he feels its warmth but says nothing, then begins wiping down the baby - her face and neck and back and chest and hair. She sighs happily but keeps on shaking. Kurt looks like a seasoned pro and Blaine feels so useless.
“What should I - the milk will be too hard on her stomach, right?” And now he's even questioning things he is sure of. “Just water?”
Kurt twists his head to the side and checks the time. It's three-thirty in the morning. “Damn, the pharmacy on the corner is closed... Pedialyte would be best. Um... is there any more of that hideous sports drink that you take to the gym?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it's basically the same thing. That's what the baby book says. Just water that down and it should be fine.”
Blaine mixes the Gatorade and water in a sippy cup and brings it to Katie. She gives him another questioning look before letting him put the lip into her mouth. She sucks on it once and then again and hums like she does when she's eating her favourite fruit. “She likes it,” Blaine says, smiling, happy that he has finally managed to do something to make her the slightest bit better.
“Of course she does, it has sugar in it. Not even a year old and already a sugar addict. Tsk tsk.” Kurt runs his nose along the back of her neck and she lets out a mournful sounding giggle. “And now we wait,” he tells Blaine. “It should kick in soon.”
When the medicine begins to do its job, Katie starts sweating profusely. Blaine wipes her down with the now properly tepid cloth while Kurt walks her around the room.
There is a game they play - both Blaine and Katie's favourite - singing peekaboo. Blaine pops up and boops her on the nose and sings a line from a song. She gives him a smile so breathtaking he wants to jump for joy. “She smiled,” he tells Kurt.
“Of course she did,” Kurt sing-songs, swinging her gently back and forth. “How could she help herself when Daddy is being such an adorable dork, eh, Katie?” He runs his fingers through her sweat-drenched hair and presses his lips to her forehead. “Her temperature is almost back to normal.”
Blaine breathes a sigh of relief. “You're amazing, you know?”
“Only figuring that out now?” Kurt teases.
“Come here,” Blaine says with a grin. He pulls his husband and daughter into his arms.
“Dadadada,” Katie jabbers against Kurt's chest.
It takes an hour for Katie to fall back to sleep, cuddled up in a ball with her little bum in the air. Blaine lays a hand on her tiny back and feels her heart beating, his hand lifting with her soft breaths. Kurt reaches over and rests his hand on top of Blaine's, their matching wedding bands gleaming in the moon's rays shining in through their bedroom window.
“That was the first time she's been sick like that,” Blaine whispers.
“It was.”
He sighs deeply and turns his eyes away from his daughter to look at Kurt, embarrassed. “I freaked out a little.”
“You did.”
“Sorry.”
Kurt smiles and shakes his head fondly. “It's okay, Blaine. As long as only one of us freaks out at a time we'll be all right. You get her first fever, and I get to lose it when she announces that she started her period.”
Blaine chuckles to himself, twining his fingers with Kurt's as they both rub their daughter's back. “But let's be realistic,” he says after a moment. “I'm going to be the one freaking out when she gets her period, too.”
“Yeah you are,” Kurt says. “But that's okay.” Blaine leans over and presses his grin to Kurt's mouth.