“Everything looks fine, babe. If you’re this nervous, maybe we need to put off talking to Kurt and Blaine tonight and talk about it some more,” Noah said softly.

“No,” Rachel said firmly as she shook her head. “I’m ready to do this. It’s just a little nerve-wracking. And waiting is making me crazy. I’m going to have a hard time not just blurting everything out before we’ve even shut the front door.”

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure. You can change your mind at any time. No one will judge you for it,” he reiterated as the doorbell rang.

“Oh, God. They’re here. Okay. Everything is going to be fine.” Rachel took a deep breath, walking to the foyer with Noah trailing behind her.

Rachel pulled the door open, and smiled at two of her best friends. And everything fell into place.

******************

“Where are the kids tonight?” Blaine asked.

They were all sitting around the living room, Kurt and Blaine on the loveseat, Rachel and Noah on the couch, eating hors d’oeuvres. They had been sharing small talk and filling each other in on their lives for the past twenty minutes. At this question, Rachel looked at Noah; this was the perfect opening to bring up the reason for the dinner.

Rachel went first. “My dads have them tonight. We kind of wanted to talk to the two of you about something.”

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other and back at the couple sitting opposite them. “Okay,” Kurt said cautiously. “Go ahead.”

Rachel glanced between Kurt and Blaine. “Kurt mentioned several weeks ago during one of our lunches that the two of you were starting to look into having children. I came home that night and talked to Noah about it, and he mentioned that he’d had a conversation with Blaine about it earlier that week.” Rachel took a deep breath as Noah squeezed her hand (when had she taken his hand? she wondered) and the two men across from her watched her closely.

“I wondered how you would feel about me being your surrogate. Actually, let me rephrase that: I would be honored to be your surrogate, if that’s what you want.”

For a few seconds, the ticking of the clock in the next room was all that could be heard, as Blaine’s jaw dropped and Kurt’s eyes welled up with tears. Rachel watched as Blaine recovered first, looking over at Kurt and then taking his hand. This seemed to snap Kurt out of his daze, and he looked at Blaine before looking back at Rachel.

“You…what…but we…” was all Kurt was able to gasp out before he let out a sob and Blaine pulled him into his arms.

Blaine rubbed Kurt’s back as he looked back and forth between Rachel and Noah. “You,” he started, his voice cracking. He took a breath and started again, more confidently, “You want to carry our baby for us?”

Rachel nodded, getting choked up herself watching the two men struggle with their emotions.

“Are you sure?” Blaine whispered, hope in his eyes. Kurt lifted his head, but stayed in the circle of Blaine’s arms, a heartbreaking mixture of hope and despair in his own eyes.

Noah took one look at Rachel and knew she was close to bursting into tears herself. He put his arm around her and decided it was his turn to join in the conversation.

“Rachel brought up the idea weeks ago. We’ve talked about it extensively. We’ve debated the pros and cons, we’ve discussed exactly what it would entail, and we’ve talked about how it would affect Jon and Belle. We’ve covered every base we can think of. Rachel is determined to do this for you guys if you want to accept our offer, and I’m completely supportive of the idea as well.” Noah paused, debating whether to bring up his next point. “In fact, Blaine, after we talked about kids after our run that Saturday, part of me wanted to ask Rachel to do this. If you’ll accept, we both really want to give this to you…we want to help you have a child.”

At this, Kurt launched himself off the loveseat and tackled Rachel to the couch. By now, both of them were laughing and crying and Blaine and Noah chuckled through their tears as Blaine stood up and walked more sedately over to Noah. Blaine wrapped his arms around the taller man, and Noah hugged him back.

“You don’t know how much this means to us,” Blaine said as he pulled back and shoved his hands in his pockets. “If we do this, we won’t ever be able to thank you enough.”

Noah thought of his two children and the joy they brought to his life. “I have an idea of how much it means. And your happiness is thanks enough. You guys are gonna be amazing parents.”

The two men turned back to watch Kurt untangle himself from Rachel and reach for the box of tissues on the end table. Everyone was a bit of a mess at the moment.

**************

“So which one of you is going to impregnate my wife?” Noah asked cheerfully as he lifted his water glass for a sip, watching in amusement as Kurt choked on a bite of food and Blaine fumbled his fork.

Rachel snorted and poked Noah in the ribs. “You’re awful, Noah. Leave them alone.” She turned as Kurt took a sip of water to clear his throat and Blaine wiped up the splatters of food on the edge of the table. “You don’t have to make any decisions right now, guys,” she reassured them. “That conversation can happen whenever you’re ready.”

The two looked at each other shyly. “Actually, we’ve already talked about it.” Kurt waited for Blaine’s nod before continuing. “If we’re able to have two children, we’d like to have one from each of us. But we want Blaine to father our first child. His grandmother’s health is really fragile, and he’s the only grandchild. She’s never said it explicitly, but she’s hinted that she’d really like a biological great-grandchild before she dies.”

“I’m sorry, Blaine. I didn’t realize,” Rachel murmured.

Blaine smiled at her. “Thanks,” he said. “I know it’s not a huge deal to her, and she would love a child from either of us equally, but we both want to do this for her.”

Rachel cleared her throat a little awkwardly. “Um, you guys can think about it, but if you’d rather not use a donor egg from someone you don’t know, I’m happy to let you use one of mine.” She blushed a little at this. “That way you would know, or be able to easily find out, about health issues, and the child could eventually know, if you wanted to share with her, where she came from.”

Kurt looked at Blaine as they both marveled at her generosity. “Rachel, that’s our idea of a perfect arrangement. We’d love for you to be involved in the child’s life and eventually tell her exactly how she came to us.” Kurt paused. “But that’s a lot to ask of you. Are you sure you would be able to give up your own biological child and not be an active parent in her life? We would always want you to be around, but it would frequently be in the background, like more of an aunt than a mother.”

“I would be thrilled with that situation. And I wouldn’t be giving her up, I’d be handing her over to two amazing men, and would be able to do all the spoiling that a parent can’t do. She would be so loved by all of us. I know there will be times that will be challenging, but overall I think it will be amazing.”

“Good God, this child is going to be tiny and hyper and really freaking loud if the DNA comes from both Rachel and Blaine. Hummel, you sure you’re up for this?” Noah asked, with a smirk on his face.

Kurt looked from his best girlfriend to his best friend and husband, and smiled at Noah. “I can’t wait.”