Kurt blinked.

“What?”

“Take her.”

“I don’t- you’re supposed to hate me, Marley. I lied to you.”

“Kurt, you’re the only person who’s done anything for us- well, you and Blaine. Every time I’ve seen you hold her, she stops crying. You’ve got a house, and a job, and you’re married and-”

“But- maybe with some more help- maybe social services can-”

“No, Kurt. I don’t want-” she stopped herself guiltily for a moment before continuing. “I love her. I love her more than- more than I thought I could love anything. That’s why you should take her. She needs more than I can give her.”

She bent her head down to kiss Daisy’s hair, then eased her into Kurt’s arms. He knew he should resist, but his body took over, automatically cradling her in the crook of his elbow. He couldn’t help but feel so at home holding her. As he felt her warm little frame nestle into his chest, her heart beating strongly against his skin, goosebumps erupted across his arms and he let out a shaky breath, his pulse racing.

“Marley, I- you could still- I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”

“I’ve been thinking about it since I met you. I know what happens to girls like me, Kurt. They get lost. They get stuck just like this forever.” She glanced around the cramped, messy apartment. “It’s not what I want for her, or for me. You can give her a home. You’ve practically been a dad to me already, and you’re amazing at it.”

“But- what about you? You can’t stay here all by yourself. You need to go back to school, maybe- maybe go back home? Maybe if your mom knew- you could both go back to live with her?”

Marley looked at the baby again and took a very slow breath in and out before shaking her head.

“I- I don’t want to be a mom yet. I’m miserable. I’m not done being a kid. This isn’t working.”

Kurt’s arms tightened around Daisy. He tried and tried not to let himself get sucked into this – there was no way it could work, but… what if it did? What if he and Blaine could-

“No. Marley, this is crazy. You can’t- we could never- it won’t work. I doubt social services would ever let us…”

“I’ll make them. I’ll talk to Rachel. The day I met you, I wished I could be more like you. Or I wished Daisy could have a parent like you. Someone with their life together. You and Blaine, you’re perfect for her.”

Kurt took Marley’s hand and squeezed, trying (and failing) not to cry.

“You know- you know you could see her as often as you wanted, right? We’d want you to be a part of her life, as much as you like-”

She nodded, finally smiling as she saw him starting to get his head around the idea. It was the most certain she’d felt about anything for months.

“I know. Please, Kurt. Be her dad.”

Kurt’s mouth hung open, his stomach churning.

“Well- we’d need to speak to Rachel. Maybe- if you’re sure-”

“I’m sure. I mean, I almost said it when you took us for lunch, but then- and now that you’re here, after everything… you love her, don’t you?”

Kurt bit his lip, looked at the baby and nodded.

“And Blaine? Do you think he’d- would he want to?”

“God, yes. Without a doubt. But, Marley, I’m still not letting you stay here. We’ll contact your mom, I’ll help, we can work something out, okay?”

Marley blushed a little.

“Maybe. But I want to call Rachel first.”

~

Rachel was even more baffled than Kurt, but Marley was so sure of herself, more so than every other time Rachel had seen her. She looked as though a weight had been lifted off her, which in a way it had. She let Daisy’s hand clutch onto her little finger as Kurt held her while they talked to Rachel and several other people, all of whom kept asking if she was really sure. Every time she said yes, Kurt’s heart got a little lighter.

She was really serious, and as more people’s frowns turned into I-see-no-reason-why-nots, Kurt felt a warm swell in his chest, as if a flood of feeling were about to spill out of him. He didn’t dare let himself smile, but as he saw Marley, breathing steadily, sad but so certain, all he could think about was telling Blaine.

“Well,” Rachel said, flustered and confused but happy, “it looks like everybody wants the same thing, right?”

Kurt and Marley looked at each other, then at the baby, then back to Rachel. They nodded.

“Yes.”

“Then I guess… I guess you should call your husband. You’ve got a lot of paperwork to do.”

~

“Blaine? Are you busy?”

Blaine looked up from the newspaper he was reading, his mouth full of turkey sandwich.

“Yep. Hungry. Important business,” he mumbled through his food.

Brittany smiled.

“Well, you might feel differently in a minute. You have visitors in conference room B.”

He frowned and dusted the crumbs from his collar, swallowing a little too much at once.

“Who? If it’s Kurt, he can just come in here.”

“It’s not just Kurt. Blaine, will you just get up there?”

Blaine raised an eyebrow.

“Kurt’s never just anything. Alright, give me two seconds-”

She grabbed his elbow.

“Now.”

She dragged a confused Blaine into the office full of people, and he looked at each one in turn – Rachel, Marley, Kurt- and the baby. The baby in Kurt’s arms.

“What- what’s happening? Kurt?”

“I didn’t steal her, I promise.”

Blaine glared at him.

“Is that supposed to be funny?”

“Blaine,” Marley interrupted, “it’s- it’s okay. I’ve been thinking for a long time, and I’ve been talking to Kurt and Rachel, and- I’d like you both to take Daisy. If you want to.”

Blaine stared in shock for a moment. Kurt reached his free hand towards his.

“Honey? Did you hear her?”

“I- but- of course we want her. I can’t even- but this is all so- where did this even come from? Is something wrong? Are you sick?”

Marley shook her head.

“No. I’m just tired. This isn’t right, for either of us. Please, Blaine.”

He looked at her and saw the calm clarity in her eyes. This wasn’t the same girl he met a few weeks ago. She looked so exhausted, resigned, but mostly just certain. He stepped forward and hugged her.

“Tell us how we can make this easier. For you, for her, whatever you want, we’ll do it.”

She smiled and allowed herself a moment to bury her face in his shoulder, closing her eyes. It felt so nice to be looked after for a minute. She felt like a little girl, with her mother’s arms around her. She knew she had a phone call to make, but for now she just stepped back.

“You could try holding her. You know, if you want to.”

A nervous smile crept onto Blaine’s face, and he looked from Marley to Kurt to the baby. He nodded.

“Very much.”

He turned to Kurt, who was blushing and grinning like an idiot as he passed the bundle over to Blaine, both of them being so careful not to hurt her that it took forever. Kurt’s hand, now free of baby, found its way to Blaine’s waist and he leaned in to kiss his cheek.

“You okay?” Kurt asked, even though he wasn’t really worried by how quiet Blaine was. They both knew better than to jump for joy in front of Marley. His smile showed it all anyway. He looked down at her, beaming brightly, mouthing ‘hi!’ when she gazed back at him. Marley had to blink back a few tears, and Kurt gave her hand a squeeze. She smiled. She didn’t try to hide the hint of sadness in her eyes, that they immediately made more of a family than she could provide, but it all felt right. She had all the time in the world to become a parent some day. Now she could get back to being a kid. Kurt felt Blaine trembling under his fingertips.

“Okay is one way of putting it. Kurt, she- I-” he gave up on words and settled for a nod as a tear dropped onto the baby’s cheek.

~

They said their tearful goodbyes, Marley sad but smiling, Rachel flustered, all of their heads spinning a little, and Mike ordered Blaine to go home with his family. He didn’t need that much convincing. They cooed over the baby in her carrier in the taxi home – a rare luxury, but they needed calm and quiet, not the chaos of the subway – occasionally looking up at each other with mischievous grins. They still felt like they were doing something they shouldn’t have been: actually letting themselves enjoy having her for the first time. The hint of sadness from last time had disappeared. With Kurt gently stroking her hair, and her hand grasping onto Blaine’s finger, they felt at ease, relaxed… they felt happy.

They paid up, went inside, locked the door and sat down, Blaine lifting Daisy out of her seat and holding her close.

“So… now what? Does she need feeding?” Kurt shook his head. Blaine held her up and sniffed. “She’s all clean. She- she seems fine.” She blew a spit bubble and gurgled. “Does that mean you’re fine, baby girl? Yeah?”

She snuffled.

“I think she’s okay,” Kurt grinned, “more than okay. Amazing.”

Blaine nodded.

“I just can’t- is this really it? Is she ours? We must have to do something.”

“Oh, we’ve got plenty to do. Diapers. Feeding. First steps, potty training, take her to school… we’ve got to be parents. You ready?”

Blaine took a deep breath, nodding.

“Super ready. Get up.”

“What?”

Blaine put Daisy back in her carrier, and her eyes drifted closed.

“Up. Now. I need to do something.”

Kurt stood up, frowning. He’d figured Blaine would want to hold the baby as much as possible, now that he was actually allowed to enjoy having her. Before he could figure out what was happening, Blaine had stepped around the car seat on the floor and grabbed him into a hug.

“Oh, Blaine-”

“I just had to- I love you so much, Kurt, okay? I mean, I’m so so happy right now, but I would have been if- but she- god, this is just-”

“I know. I love you too.”

Blaine just kept squeezing him, stroking his back, gripping onto his shoulders, kissing his cheek, his neck, his jaw, and they stayed that way until they were both crying and grinning from ear to ear.

“We’ve got a baby.”

“Yes, we have.”

~

Marley Rose walked through the cafeteria, as she always did, on her way out of school. Her mother was just cleaning up for the weekend, and she stopped to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Are you staying at theirs for dinner tonight, sweetie?”

“I don’t know. Depends who’s cooking,” she said with a grin, “but I promise I’ll be home by eight.”

Millie raised an eyebrow.

“You really promise?”

Marley rolled her eyes with a grin. It filled her chest with warmth every time her mother worried about her. It was nice to be looked after again.

“On the dot.”

She kissed her cheek and her bag swung on her shoulder as she skipped out.

She opened the door with her own key.

“There you are! We were worried about you!”

Marley grinned. More people worrying about her. Kurt pulled her into a hug and Blaine followed, a little girl with rosy cheeks and a huge smile balanced on his hip.

“Mama!”

“Okay, baby, you want to go see Mama?”

“Ma!”

“Hey, sweetie!” Marley cooed as Blaine passed her over. She kissed her fuzzy hair and cuddled her, as she wrapped her arms around her neck and cuddled back. “Oh, honey, look at you getting so big!”

“She’s been a firecracker all day, so hopefully she’ll settle down for you.”

Marley wasn’t listening to Blaine, too busy rubbing her nose against Daisy’s.

“Uh-huh,” she giggled, peppering Daisy’s cheeks with kisses until she screamed with laughter. “Oh, a certain letter arrived yesterday. With a very important looking stamp on it.”

Kurt grabbed Blaine’s hand.

“Oh my god, Marley, you got in?”

She nodded.

“You know if you hadn’t helped me with my essay-”

“No, Marley. It’s because of you. You’re an amazing woman, and you could get in wherever you want, and-”

Blaine rolled his eyes at Kurt and gave Marley a hug, careful not to squash Daisy.

“That’s fantastic, honey. Well done.”

Kurt grinned and stopped rambling.

“Of course, sweetie,” she kissed her cheek, “we’re proud of you.”

“So, college girl, how would you two like some time to yourselves? We can go finish getting dinner ready – are you staying?”

“Yes, please,” she beamed, taking Daisy through to the living room. She sat at the piano, teasing out the few chords Blaine had taught her and encouraging Daisy to sing along with her. Blaine and Kurt stayed in the doorway for a moment, calmly watching them together. Marley was like a different person. She was so confident, so happy, so excited about her future instead of resigning herself to being miserable. This wasn’t the family routine they’d ever had in mind for themselves. They knew it would be the two of them. They’d dreamed they might have children. They’d never imagined that they would have a baby in the way that they did, or that their daughter’s mother would be just as much a part of their family as she was, that they’d be able to give two girls a brighter future instead of just one, but they had. This was their family.

They’d been right about one thing, though. As Blaine hooked his chin over Kurt’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his middle, as Kurt folded his arms over Blaine’s and leaned his cheek on Blaine’s hair, as they absent-mindedly tangled their fingers together, watching Marley and Daisy playing, they felt the familiar warmth in their chests, knowing that this had always been certain. Whatever their family looked like, it would always include the two of them. Fearlessly and forever.

~

November 12th, 2002

“Mama, mama,” Blaine says, tugging at the hem of his mother’s sleeve, dragging her towards a shelf of toys. She rolls her eyes and smiles; he’s been like this for a month already, every time they see a toy commercial or walk past a toy store. Until recently the supermarket had been safe, but now the festive season is well underway and toys are inescapable.

She likes to think of herself as fairly wise when it comes to parenting. She’s been through all of this with Cooper years ago – cars and robots and transformers – but Blaine’s pulling towards the pink aisle instead of the blue one. She doesn’t mind, of course, but it’s a surprise. “Look at this!”

“What are you looking at, sweetie?”

Blaine picks up a doll. It’s not noticeably male or female, just a baby. Blaine immediately picks it up and cradles it against his chest.

“Shh, shh, don’t cry, it’s okay. I’ll look after you.”

She smiles at him. He likes soccer and making mud pies and chasing dogs, but he’s still one of the gentlest little boys she’s ever seen. She strokes his curls and bends to kiss his temple.

“Aren’t you good at that, darling? You got the baby to go to sleep. Is it a boy or a girl?”

“Girl.”

“Well, she’s very pretty.” She notices a woman next to her with toys in her basket – a wand, a tiara, and she’s just about to pick up the doll next to Blaine’s. Mrs Anderson almost blushes – to other parents this would be a girl’s toy, but the woman smiles.

“He’s lovely. This is all for my son. They must be about the same age.”

They smile at each other, relieved not to get any strange looks.

“He’s always been very nurturing. His father thinks he’s going to be a doctor. I think he just wants to be a dad.”

“Hey, maybe he’ll be both.” She bends down to smile at the little boy. “Hi, honey, what’s your name?”

Blaine beams at the woman, his cheeks rosy, grasping his mother’s hand for comfort but still keeping the doll nestled in his arm.

“Blaine.”

“That’s a lovely name. Mine’s Elizabeth. I’ve got a little boy who likes playing with dolls too. Maybe after Christmas, if Santa brings both of you nice toys, you could play together?”

Blaine’s face lights up. He thinks this lady must be an angel. She’s got such a soft smile, and she smells beautiful, like flowers and sunshine. Her little boy must be beautiful too, and Blaine decides he wants him to be his best friend.

“I would love that! What’s his name?”

“His name’s Kurt. Why don’t your mommy and I exchange phone numbers, and then you can meet him?”

Blaine nods so quickly his head becomes a blur.

“Yes, please, Miss Elizabeth.”

She smiles again, and she and Blaine’s mother talk for a while. Blaine stops listening. He goes back to playing with the doll, stroking her hair, holding her hand, kissing her cheek just like his mother does to him. He can’t wait to meet Kurt. They can be best friends and hold hands and look after their babies together.

Christmas comes and goes, and there’s no call from Elizabeth. In a different part of Ohio, a little boy hangs up a perfume bottle by himself and asks Santa for nothing but his mommy back. Blaine gets the doll he wanted, but he wishes he could have gotten the new best friend that was promised to him.

~

December 25th, 2025

Kurt hums contentedly as he’s woken gently by a warm arm around his middle and soft lips on his neck.

“Merry Christmas, darling,” Blaine mumbles into his skin, “have you been good this year?”

Kurt grins, his eyes still closed, unfazed now by Blaine’s cheesiness. If he can’t do it at Christmas, when can he?

“Oh, I don’t know about ‘good’. But I think I should get presents anyway.”

“Mmm, maybe right after I teach you a lesson…”

They both giggled, rolling over until Kurt was covered by Blaine’s warm body, fingertips pushing lazily at pyjamas, lips just starting to explore jawlines and sheets starting to rustle, when the door squeaked open.

“He came! Santa came!”

They stilled, laughing silently for a second. Kurt tilted his head so he could see past Blaine and smile at his excited little girl in the doorway. Blaine pressed one more quick kiss to Kurt’s cheek before rolling onto his side and leaning on his elbow, running a hand through his hair.

“Morning, baby.”

“Santa came! It’s Christmas!”

“Well, of course he came, sweetheart,” Kurt said as Daisy sprinted over to their bed, jumping on top of them, “you’ve been very, very good this year. Hasn’t she, Daddy?”

“Oof,” Blaine said when Daisy’s knee landed on his stomach. He sat up and grabbed her by the middle, blowing a raspberry on her tummy until she squealed. “I’m not sure. Santa might have just wrapped up twenty lumps of coal and put them under the tree.”

“What?” She gasped, the smile disappearing from her face. “But I was so good! That’s not fair!”

Kurt elbowed Blaine in the ribs.

“Maybe you should go downstairs and get your presents. If you bring them all up here, we can all open them in bed, okay?”

She nodded eagerly and started to clamber down from the bed, but Blaine stopped her, keeping her on his lap for a moment.

“Hold on a second, Dasher. What do we do before presents?”

Daisy sighed heavily in exasperation.

“Kisses.”

“Bingo.”

She craned her neck up so she could kiss both of her fathers. She tried to wriggle free, but Blaine kept his arm wrapped around her waist until she was giggling breathlessly.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just keep you here and tickle you forever and cancel Christmas.”

“No! Daddy, tell him!”

Kurt stopped laughing just long enough to free her.

“Come on, Papa, let her go. I want my presents.”

“Well, I was about to give it to you…”

Kurt slapped the back of Blaine’s head.

“Angel, why don’t you go down and we’ll come help you in a second, okay?”

She nodded and he lifted her down. They could still hear her yelling ‘Santa came!’ as she ran down to the tree. Blaine sighed.

“At least somebody did.”

Kurt grinned wickedly at his husband.

“Kids are just the worst, aren’t they?”

“Yep.”

“If I promise to make it up to you later, can we please go downstairs and have Christmas with our daughter?”

“Try and stop me.”

Hands linked, they scrambled out of bed, dragging blankets with them, and rushed down the stairs.

Blaine lit the fire, Kurt made breakfast, and they all took turns opening gifts from Grandpa Burt, Grandma Carole, Uncle Mike, Aunt Quinn, and Mama Marley. Blaine’s face lit up at his reindeer sweater-vest and matching bowtie; Daisy spent thirty minutes stroking the bald head of the T-Rex she’d asked for, alternating between cuddling it with her eyes closed and roaring and making it eat her dads. She did this whilst modelling the antlers Blaine had bought her.

Kurt’s favourite gift was from Blaine – a frame containing pictures of their family – one of Marley and Millie, lots of their friends, parents, grandparents, one of the Uncle Finn that Daisy had heard so much about, standing tall in his letterman jacket, and in the middle, one of Kurt, Blaine, and Daisy in the middle. She was already so much bigger now than she had been when that one was taken, all of them in awful Christmas jumpers, a sprig of mistletoe hanging above their heads. The three of them were nestled together on the floor by the fireplace, just like they were now, Daisy happily ripping her wrapping paper into shreds rather than playing with her presents, Kurt and Blaine sitting just behind her. Kurt had no idea the photo even existed – he’d been too busy gazing into Blaine’s eyes. Even now he could remember the way the lights reflected off them, making them look even more golden than usual. He was watching Blaine watching Daisy, their hands resting together on his knee. Her skin was darker than both of theirs, and her hair was even more wildly curly than Blaine’s, but the excitement of her face and the sparkle in her eyes made her so unmistakeably theirs.

He loved both versions of his family – the huge, complicated, extended one, and the one that was in this room right now, but more than anything he loved the man he shared it all with. He remembered a time when he couldn’t imagine having a real family or a real Christmas ever again. Looking at the photograph in his hands, his eyes filling with tears, he whispered ‘thank you’ to the boy who had made it all start to seem possible, and to the man who made it a reality every day.