This chapter should be read after Chapter 108 of Model Behavior.

Blaine glanced around the living room. It felt strange being in the apartment while the designers were in the workroom. "Come on, Trevor," he said softly. "Let's get you back home." He made his way into the bedroom, smiling at the sight of the cat sitting proudly on Kurt's pillow. "Hey Bentley," he said, picking him up for a quick hug. "I hope you did as good a job taking care of Kurt as Trevor did of me." He put Bentley back on the pillow, arranging him so that there was room for Trevor between his forelegs. He extracted Trevor from the tote bag and snuggled him in under Bentley's chin. "There," he said with satisfaction, "you guys can have a little chat, as Heidi says, and I'll be back to get Bentley later tonight. And don't worry - I won't forget this time. I missed you too much to ever let that happen again."

"He'd better not forget me," Bentley complained as soon as they were alone. "Don't get so close. Haven't you ever heard of personal space?"

Trevor closed his eyes and sighed. "Just once, it would be really nice if you didn't pretend you hated me."

"I don't hate you!" Bentley protested.

"I know you don't," Trevor replied, hopping off the pillow and turning his back, "but you always act like you can't stand to be around me, and even though I know you don't mean it, it still hurts my feelings. We don't get to spend much time together, and when this is over, we might not ever see each other again. Why can't we just enjoy what we have?"

"First of all, that's just stupid, you silly old toad. How could we not see each other again? Blaine and Kurt are meant to be together, and they will be, so what are you worried about?"

"Yeah, but once they have each other to sleep with, they won't need us any more. What if they stick us in a box in the closet or something, or worse, give us away? We could end up on opposite sides of the country."

"Look," Bentley said firmly, leaving his spot on the pillow to curl himself around his friend, "Kurt would never allow that to happen and neither would Blaine, but we can start whispering to them at night if it will make you feel any better. Even if they don't want to cuddle with us all the time, they'll still keep us on the bed or the dresser so we'll be there if we're needed."

"What will they need us for if they have each other?" Trevor sniffled.

"They'll always need us. If Kurt has to go out of town for a night or two, Blaine will insist that you go along to keep him company, or maybe I'll go with Kurt and you'll stay with Blaine. They'll even cuddle with us ahead of time so we'll smell like home. And later on, when they have a little boy or girl," Bentley continued in the same soothing tones Tamera used to tell bedtime stories when Blaine was little, "we'll be there to see it. The baby will have her own special friend, but we'll be there to give advice and lend a hand."

Trevor sighed again, but it was a happy sigh this time. He snuggled in a little closer. "That sounds nice. I've never been around a baby. Was Blaine cute when he was little?"

"He was adorable." Bentley couldn't help the purr that rumbled up from his chest at the thought of three-year-old Blaine. "He had all these curls, and no matter how often Mom combed his hair, it looked messy five minutes later. You should have heard him, Trevor. Even when he was little, he spoke in complete sentences with correct grammar, no baby talk. There were a couple of words he had trouble with, though. When we went to the park, he wanted to ride on the 'merr-go-y-round'. Mom would say 'merry-go-round' and Blaine would frown at her and say 'That's what I said. Merr-go-y-round' and she would just smile. It was funny because he didn't have trouble with 'spaghetti' at all."

"Eating it?"

"No, pronouncing it. He didn't have trouble eating it either, unless you want to count making a huge mess. Mom never should have bought him that Lady and the Tramp video. He always ended up with sauce all over his face from pushing the meatballs around, and the worst part was that he wanted me to be Lady. Can you imagine? Me playing a dog?" Bentley demanded in offended tones. "No cat would ever push food around with his nose. It's disgusting."

"That movie has cats in it, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but the cats are the bad guys and their song is really annoying. Give me The Lion King any day."

"I wonder why there aren't any Disney movies with toads in them," Trevor mused. "It seems like there should be."

"What about The Princess and the Frog?"

Trevor snorted in derision. "There's a big difference between frogs and toads."

"Okay, how about The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad? That one has a toad, and they even made a ride out of it."

"Are you sure?" Trevor asked doubtfully. "I've never heard of it."

"That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I had forgotten about it until just now, but Blaine took me on the ride when we went to Disneyland. It's called Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but it was a kids' ride so it was pretty tame if you ask me."

"Cool! Maybe I'll get to go on it one day."

"Don't hold your breath. I'm sure Blaine prefers more grownup rides now."

"Okay, first of all, it doesn't matter what Blaine thinks because I belong to Kurt. Second, remember that little boy or girl you were talking about? I'm sure Kurt and Blaine will take their kids to Disneyland and ride all the rides with them."

"Even if they do, they won't take you along," Bentley pointed out. "Kurt is much too old to take his special friend along on an amusement park ride, and any children they have will take their own friends."

"I guess you're right," Trevor conceded reluctantly. "Oh, well. Did you have fun staying with Kurt?"

"I suppose," Bentley said, the tip of his tail twitching in irritation. "That e-mail he sent Blaine made me mad, though. It made me look bad, like I was a petulant child who was pouting because his dad was a little late picking him up from school. I knew Blaine didn't forget about me."

"And we all know you never pout or act like a child," Trevor replied, sarcasm dripping from every word. "I thought it was funny and very clever. And I hate to break this to you, but he did forget you."

"Well it's not like he left me out in the yard or on the school bus. He knew where I was and that I was safe. Besides, he had a good excuse. I would never have gotten upset over a little thing like that."

"Uh huh," Trevor replied. "That must have been some other cat who was pacing around and whining all evening."

"I was worried about him," Bentley said loftily. "This is a big city, you know. Anything could have happened. He could have been lying unconscious in the hospital or in some dark alley. He could have been dead for all we knew. If you loved him as much as I do, you would have been worried too."

"Hmph. Maybe I just have more confidence in his ability to take care of himself. He's not a baby any more, you know."

"I'm not stupid," Bentley hissed. "I know he's not a baby, but I still worry. Let's talk about something else."

Trevor shrugged. "Okay. Did Kurt snuggle you? He gives the best snuggles. Blaine is good, too, and it was fun going to the office and meeting Heidi, but I'm glad to be back home with my Kurt."

Bentley's jaw dropped and and he stared at Trevor in disbelief. "Blaine took you to the office? And he didn't hide you in a tote bag?"

Trevor couldn't help preening a little. "Kurt said Heidi wanted to meet me. I was in a bag, but that was so I would stay clean, not so no one would see me." Trevor waited patiently for Bentley to continue the conversation, but Bentley studiously ignored him, twisting around instead to wash his nether regions. "Aren't you going to ask me what happened?" he prompted after several minutes of silence.

"Why would I do that? I don't care about the office or Heidi."

"Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Yes, you do," chanted Trevor. "You don't fool me. You're dying to hear all about it. Cats can't stand it when someone knows something they don't."

"Hmph! You think you know so much. How many cats have you met?"

"I was trying to be polite," Trevor replied, drawing himself up to his full height, "but if you insist - you can't stand it when someone knows something you don't. Remember when you unwrapped the Christmas presents so you could see what Blaine was getting? And then you didn't even wrap them back, so he got blamed for it."

"It wasn't my fault the tape wouldn't stick," Bentley protested guiltily. "Besides, I told him it was me."

"Oh, yeah, right. That was a big help. What was he supposed to do? Tell Mom and Dad that his stuffed cat had opened all the presents? I'm sure they would have believed that."

"We're getting off the subject here," Bentley said with a frown.

"What subject is that?" Trevor asked sweetly.

Bentley narrowed his eyes and his tail lashed back and forth. "You know what subject. You're going to be insufferable until I listen to you brag about your trip to the office, so just hurry up and get it over with."

"Heidi is really pretty," Trevor said.

"Well, duh. She's a model, isn't she? Besides, I already knew that. Blaine and I have been watching the show for a long time now."

"She's even prettier in person. And she smells nice. Kind of like Kurt, but not."

"Oh, that's articulate. I know exactly how she smells now."

"You don't need to be sarcastic," Trevor said reproachfully. "I'm always nice when you're bragging about stuff."

Bentley studied his paw and gave it a lick. "Okay, I'm listening. What did she say?"

"She said I was adorable and called me niedliche kleine Kröte," Trevor proclaimed proudly. "She said it means cute little toad. And then after Blaine left ..."

"What do you mean Blaine left?" Bentley demanded. "Where did Blaine go?"

"Heidi said we were having a private conversation so Blaine went back to his desk. After he left, she told me her son would love to have a toad and maybe she should just sneak me home in her briefcase but I think she was just kidding. She said Kurt was lucky to have such a wonderful friend and that I should take good care of him, and I should tell him to be good to you and Blaine."

"She mentioned me? Why didn't you say so?" Bentley's eyes squeezed shut in pleasure.

"I just did, Silly. Anyway, she said I should make sure that Kurt never, ever gives up on his dreams because he deserves all the happiness in the world."

"He does," Bentley agreed, "and so does Blaine. We'll just have to make sure they get what they deserve together so we can be happy, too. I hate being around Blaine when he's sick. I can't imagine being with him if he were heartbroken. That would be ten times worse."

"He's not that bad when he's sick," Trevor objected. "He spent most of the time sleeping. The most annoying part was that his phone kept going off to remind him of stuff."

"Yeah, but he wants to cuddle when he's sick, and if he's running a fever it gets too hot."

"You're never happy, are you?" Trevor scolded. "When I cuddle up to you, you tell me I'm too cold. You shouldn't worry about yourself so much. You should concentrate on making Blaine feel better. I'm glad I was there when he needed me."

"I'm glad you were, too," Bentley said, giving Trevor an affectionate nudge. "Blaine had someone to comfort him and I didn't have to do any of the work."

Many thanks to claudiavonberckefeldt, who provided the German translation.