38.
Owner of Andolt Theatre in Lima.
Currently separated from my husband, Kurt Hummel.
I have three beautiful children that i'd still do anything for.
I thought it might be a good idea what with Rosie and Maik being home now. Does tomorrow evening work with your schedule?
Tomorrow’s just fine. We should be finished building the sets by then. If they aren’t done, they can wait. My family’s more important.
Or something of the sort. We’ve all been too apart lately, and it’s bothering me.
A family dinner sounds really nice right about now.
Emma stood in the kitchen already dressed for school, staring intently as the coffee dripped down into the carafe. She already had her travel cup ready to go filled with the precise amount of cream and sugar, all it was waiting for was the most important ingredient. She had her coffee down to an exact science and this was no surprise seeing as how they were definitely a coffee family. Emma joked all the time that this was the reason she was so tiny and short. But here she was drinking more coffee anyway, because at this moment she needed it. She was always the first one awake, having quite a routine in the morning to get ready. Shower, try on 3 different outfits, pick one, get coffee, eat breakfast, change her outfit one more time, then finally make-up and hair. Today though part of the reason she was awake right now was because she was having trouble sleeping.
Emma had woken up, her body still shaking from her fight she had had with Dani, as well as her situation at home. She was constantly reminding herself that she had failed Rosalie, and there was the ever nagging reminder of her parents failed marriage. Kurt was sleeping upstairs and Blaine was sleeping downstairs in the guest room. In Emma’s eyes it was no different than the situation they were in before. In fact it was almost worse because it was an obvious reminder that their family was still not okay. Emma had tossed and turned all night, waking up occasionally, her breathing erratic and her heart racing. She was able to calm herself down a bit and attempt to sleep peacefully, but it just wasn’t happening. Now she was feeling it while she stood in the kitchen waiting as patiently as possible for her coffee to brew.
The coffee finally finished pouring, signaling with a sputtering noise, that Emma could now add it to her awaiting cup. She poured it in quickly watching the coffee swirl around with the cream and sugar, mixing it together. After setting the carafe back on the coffee maker she padded over to the fridge, the heels of the boots she had matched with her outfit clicking on the tile floor, and grabbed two ice cubes so she would be able to start drinking her coffee without burning her mouth. She dropped them in putting on the lid and swirling the liquid around before taking a cautious sip. As Emma was reaching for the bagels on the counter so she could start making her breakfast, she heard the guest room door open and rolled her eyes.
She still wasn’t thrilled that Blaine had moved back in “to help Kurt with the children.” He should want to move back in with them, want to be part of their family again, not just do it because they had been “out of control.” Emma didn’t feel that vibe from him at all. Sure she hadn’t made an effort to welcome him back with open arms, but he was her dad and he shouldn’t be acting like it was almost awkward for him to be back in their home. Emma sighed to herself as she heard her dad walking towards the kitchen. She slipped the bagel she had just cut in half in the toaster pushing it down hard then moving quickly to the fridge to get the cream cheese so she could make her bagel and just be done quickly, hopefully avoiding the awkwardness that she felt was about to enter the kitchen with her dad. She didn’t know if she could handle it all right now, especially with the way she was still feeling from last night.
Blaine rubs his eyes tiredly as he makes up the bed from the pull out sofa in the office. It had been his residence for the better part of a few weeks, and although it wasn’t the most ideal living situation, it worked to the better. Kurt had barely let Blaine back into the good graces that he sought so desperately, and they were still keeping their space from one another, slowly easing their way back into a relationship after being apart for so long.
A pang of guilt ripples through Blaine as he looks over to the picture in the frame that caused him plenty of pain, but he still couldn’t bear to hide it. It was the last picture that they as a family had taken together before the divorce. Blaine had made enough money from the most recent production that the theater had put on to take the family to California for a family vacation, hoping to ease some of the tension that was occurring at home. The five of them stood on the beach, Kurt in a floppy hat and a zinc oxide covered nose, Blaine with his bright sunglasses and board shorts, Lee and Emma sharing a sisterly hug with sun kissed skin, and Maik in board shorts similar to Blaine’s, giving the camera a goofy smile. They were so happy there, but when they got back home, reality game back to slap them all in the face. Shortly after, the fighting had become so escalated, so heated, that Blaine couldn’t take it anymore and had served the papers.
Sighing, Blaine pulls on an old t-shirt from the suitcase he was still living out of, ready to head out into the kitchen as the smell of coffee perks up his senses. Blaine hears a person moving around, and pads out into the hallway. He wasn’t sure what he would do if the person was one of his daughters. God, I sound like a terrible father, avoiding my own children. They may be giving me the cold shoulder, but that doesn’t give me the right to do the same to them, especially when it’s me who scorned them and not the other way around.
Making his way into the kitchen, Blaine does his best to put a smile on his face as he notices Emma retrieving something out of the fridge. Of his two daughters, Emma seemed to be giving Blaine more the cold shoulder than Lee. They had hardly talked since Blaine had come home, but he couldn’t say he blamed his daughter. He had put the wedge between them and now it was up to him to fix it. Walking across the kitchen, Blaine offers Emma a more genuine smile while pouring himself a cup of coffee. “Looks good, kiddo. I hope you got your coffee making genes from me.” He teases lightly, inhaling the succulent scent of the the black coffee. Met with silence, as per the usual, Blaine lets out a deep sigh before biting his lip.
“Emma, I know we haven’t gotten a chance to talk much and things haven’t been easy for you, but I’m still your dad, and I still am here for you no matter what, okay? Is there anything you want to talk about?” I might not deserve to be here for you, but damn it, I’m going to try.
“Rosie. Never apologize for not being strong. That’s what family is for, to hold you up. This is just proof that I’ve failed in many ways. I always promised to be there for you, to be the best father ever.” His plead was broken by the sound of Blaine’s painful yell. If his heart hadn’t already shattered into a million pieces, that would have done it in. In it was a sound only a parent would know; unspoken grief and the realization of harm being done to your child. Sitting carefully on the bleached sheets Kurt pulled his daughter’s head into his lap, murmuring a soft apology as his tears fell and mixed with her own. His thumb caressed her cheek in an attempt to wipe away the quickly running tears on her young face. How was it that she looked so much older? As if life had already taken her for the long haul? “You are strong, Rosalie. You’ve been a little fighter all of your life. Don’t you ever apologize, okay?”
He moved with careful precision as he shifted his daughter back into a comfortable position. The funny thing was he knew she was just fine physically and could handle it on her own, but in his eyes she seemed suddenly fragile. As if the smallest burden on her shoulders might be the final crack. “Em, would you come talk to your sister?” He asked his older daughter as he moved from the bed to the back of the room, his eyes on the bent over figure of his husband. Kurt approached the other man quietly, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder as he knelt down beside him. “Blaine, if there was ever an opportunity for you to feel like you’ve started to correct the error of your ways, this is it. Can’t you see that we need you?” He asked, gesturing to their two daughters. “Show Rosalie that strength and courage runs in the Anderson blood. Just like you showed me so long ago.” Kurt said softly, emotion still marring his voice.
Emma looked from one father to the next. Kurt had gone straight to Rosalie and embraced her, while she watched Blaine sink to the floor. Maybe she couldn’t understand the amount of pain that he was going through as a father, but the rest of the family was hurting too and as mad as she was at him for all the things that had happened she just wanted him to hug her. To console her and tell her that they would get through this as a family, and that everything would be alright, that Rosalie would be all right.
Rosalie the little sister that Emma had always stood up for in grade school, and looked out for no matter what. She had pushed a kid to the ground when she was 7 because he had bumped into Rosalie and knocked her down, making her cry, and Emma made him cry in return. No one messed with her family, but how was she supposed to fix this when it was in fact her own family causing the problem? She had promised to always protect her little sister and here she had failed her. Whether Rosalie would say it or not Emma knew she was part of the reason. Emma had neglected Rosalie lately, being too busy numbing her own pain that she was trying desperately not to feel. Rosalie had slipped right through the cracks obviously needing more help in dealing with the situation than anyone had been aware of. Emma bit her lip, to keep it from quivering as she held in her tears.
Emma nodded as her father turned to her and asked her to talk to Rosalie. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and slowly moved over to Rosalie’s bed glancing behind her at her parents as Kurt approached Blaine. Emma reached Rosalie’s bedside and turned back to her sister, gently extending her hand out for her sister to take it, to show her support. “Lee,” She choked out barely audible the words catching in her throat with the tears she refused to let surface. “We’re going to get through this.” Emma tried to say the last sentence with as much conviction as possible, but how was she going to convince anyone whenshe had so much uncertainty weighing on her shoulders.
Blaine clenches his hands at the back of his neck. He could feel the sympathetic stares of the nurses at the nurse’s station just outside Lee’s room. Blaine was certain they had seen similar displays before from parents wishing they could do something to make their children better. A quiet, broken cry escapes Blaine’s lips and just before he looks up, he feels the soft touch of Kurt’s hand on his shoulder and the quiet calmness of his husband’s voice. “Blaine, if there was ever an opportunity for you to feel like you’ve started to correct the error of your ways, this is it. Can’t you see that we need you? Show Rosalie that strength and courage runs in the Anderson blood. Just like you showed me so long ago.” Blaine offers Kurt a watery smile, standing up with the other man. “T-Thank you.” He takes a minute to compose himself—he’s got to be strong for Lee; for his family—then pushes open the door to Lee’s room.
The sight in front of him breaks his heart. I was supposed to protect you, Lee, and I didn’t do a very good job of it. Sitting down next to the bed, Blaine looks up at his youngest daughter, sitting with her sister.. “I want you to know, Lee…I’m not upset or angry or even disappointed with you. I’m all those things in myself. I…I let you and this whole family down as a father, and maybe if I hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here. I’m sorry for that, Lee.” Blaine may have singled Lee out in his apology, but in reality, he was speaking to his whole family. The family he wanted so desperately to keep together, the only family he knew and had ever known in the past two decades. “I love you, each and every one of you, okay?” And I’m going to make this right, I promise.
(Source: the-rosalie)
Kurt’s hands clenched around his coffee cup as Blaine made his way over. Even though it felt as if they had seen each other a lot lately, it would be a blatant lie if either of them claimed that things were better. In fact, the recent turns of events with their children had left him both exhausted and frustrated. So much that they had had no choice but to push back this talk. Taking one last shaky breath and mental break, Kurt rose his eyes to meet Blaine’s. Insecurity pooled deep within the eyes he had known forever; a feeling he was sure reflected within his own leveled gaze.
“Hi, Blaine. Jittery per usual after having my first few sips of my favorite fix,” he said with an uncertain laugh. “If only they had told us back in high school that we’d be attached to the Bean for life. As if we didn’t know that though.” Wasn’t humor considered a cure-all? Why not try it now? The very least they could use was something to break the ice. Reality struck him like a brick in the face. Even from the very start on that damn staircase they had never needed something to assist them like humor. It had just been, well, natural.
“How are you?” He asked, though he knew the answer already. They were both miserable, there was no denying it. They had fallen apart long ago and now their family was showing the consequences. Even saying that was the understatement of the year. Things were long past rock bottom, and they had a penchant for making things worse. “Blaine?” Kurt started, swallowing a large nervous lump back down. “I’ve been known to hold grudges, and unfairly so. Was it unfair to treat you the way I did after what you had done? I’d like to think not but to continue to do this at the demise of our family, I just can’t. That’s not fair to anyone nor is it what I want.”
And then slowly one by one he spoke the words he had for so long kept tight under lock and key, ones he never thought would see the light of day. “I forgive you, Blaine.”
Blaine lets out a deep sigh, looking up into Kurt’s unsure eyes.He knows his husband, or at least he thinks he does. Kurt’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders between their children starting to act out, along with the divorce. No one deserved to carry that kind of weight at nearly forty. Another wave of guilt crashes over Blaine as he looks back down. I did that to him.
“That’s a bit of a loaded question, don’t you think?” The question is mostly drowned in rhetoric as Blaine runs his finger along the outer rim of the distinctive Lima Bean cup. Depressed, upset, lonely. I couldn’t save my family, and now, it’s come down to our daughter hurting herself. “It was never supposed to be this way. We were supposed to be happy forever, weren’t we? And now what have we become?” Blaine shakes his head vigorously, a huff of sardonic laughter escaping his lips. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter, I suppose.”
“I’ve been known to hold grudges, and unfairly so. Was it unfair to treat you the way I did after what you had done? I’d like to think not but to continue to do this at the demise of our family, I just can’t. That’s not fair to anyone nor is it what I want.” Blaine can barely believe the words coming out of Kurt’s mouth. And then, “I forgive you, Blaine.”
He didn’t deserve Kurt’s forgiveness. He had warranted a whole slew of hatred, from the divorce papers, to moving out, to dating Sebastian, and not just from Kurt, but from his entire family. In a sense, he had wronged everyone in his family, but it was Kurt he had arguably hurt the most. But here Kurt was, saying he forgave Blaine. What good did it do to hold onto old hurt? What good did it do to question Kurt and his motives? There was no doubt that they would need to learn to trust one another again, but in Blaine’s mind, there was no better place to do so than the place where they had confessed their love for the first time.
“I…I forgive you too, Kurt.”
You should take some NyQuil and get some rest.
That’s…probably not a bad idea, actually, Britt.
(Source: theatreblaine)
em-anderson replied to your post: So ready to pass out. I felt like I haven’t slept in days.
Welcome to my life, I never sleep anymore… I’m worried about her too..
I’m sorry, sweetheart. Is there anything I can do to help you?
Not to mention, I’m still scared senseless about Lee.
Emma followed her dads as they walked down the hallway awkwardly. To anyone who wasn’t close to them, the family would have looked normal, but Emma being a direct insider could literally feel the awkward. She hugged her arms tightly to her body to steady her shaking that had been happening. She had realized yesterday when they first came to see Lee, that hospitals made her extremely anxious. Up until this point she had only had to come to the hospital when Rosalie was born, and since Emma had only been two herself she didn’t quite remember it, and when she had split her chin open when she was 7 and had to get stitches.
Emma and her dad has been running around the house playing some kind of tag game that ended in tickling as soon as Blaine would catch her. She had been running to the living room and was headed for the couch but misjudged her step and tripped landing with her chin hitting the corner of the coffee table splitting it wide open. When Kurt had rushed into the room hearing the child’s screams of terror the sight he’d seen had been one he would never forget. The injury itself hadn’t been as bad as it looked, Emma only needing 7 tiny stitches in her tiny, 7 year old chin.
Emma took a few deep breaths to further calm herself as they reached the door. She heard a few mumbled words from the doctor and then Rosalie’s clear voice admitting about her cutting. A lump formed in Emma’s throat and she almost choked. Her sister had told her about it the other day, needing a paper signed for the school counselor acknowledging that a parent or guardian had seen it and was aware of the behavior and problem occurring. Emma’s initial reaction was to freak out and she had tried talking to Rosalie about it, but Lee had shrugged it off, promising she hadn’t done it in a while. Emma had quickly forged their dad’s signature, like the pro that she was at it and said nothing of it. Deep down she thought it was something that she could handle herself and not have to worry her otherwise preoccupied parents, but seeing Lee in the hospital bed, she realized she had done the wrong thing. She knew that it hadn’t been the reason Lee was in the hospital currently, but the thought of What if it was?, was ringing in her ears. Emma lingered towards the back of the room as her dad stepped forward to Rosalie’s side.
Blaine stays outside of the room, hanging his head. He had been home for the past week, and it felt like nothing had changed. If anything, it felt like his daughters resented him more. He barely got a chance to speak to them, and when he did, it seemed forced and like they would rather not be talking at all. Yet, in the midst of it all, Blaine felt like he should have seen this kind of thing coming. Lee, being the youngest of the family had always taken things hard, and pushed herself often. She was bound for some kind of exhaustion related incident.
Cutting though? Blaine hated himself for not seeing the signs, but how could he when he was away? It was just another reason Blaine should have never initiated the divorce. We should have come together for our children. We should have been able to prevent this, somehow, someway. Blaine lets out a pained yell, shrinking down the wall. This is my fault. My baby girl is hurting and it’s my fault. You did this to her. You did this to your family. He wants to run, to hide, but that wouldn’t be any better than the fact that he left in the first place at all. Please get better, Lee. Please.
(Source: the-rosalie)
