Chapter Twenty-Five

Kurt had come to dread late-night phone calls. There was something about them, as though they could only bring bad news. It was a late-night call to his cellphone while he was still sharing an apartment with Rachel in New York that had informed him about his great aunt finally passing. A late-night call from Rachel told him about the death of Blaine's mother, years later. It was a late visit to his apartment that had told him of Alex's death, and Rachel had made a series of calls that night to inform everyone of the news. Kurt himself had called her, and called his parents, that night.

He hated those calls in the middle of the night.

When the phone rang past three o'clock in the morning of June 17th, he felt his heart jump to his throat as he fumbled for his glasses and his phone, immediately thinking of the worst.

Because Blaine, he was at some stupid teaching conference in Columbus for the week, and his mind was only on him, thinking of what could have possibly gone wrong. Because phone calls late at night were never, ever a good sign.

That's why he felt a sense of confusion upon seeing not Blaine's name lighting up the screen of his phone, but Finn's.

"Hello?" he said, noting that his voice sounded surprisingly awake for the time of night.

"Kurt," Finn responded, and he sounded incredibly breathless. "Hey, I'm sorry I didn't call sooner, this is the first chance I've had. I'm at the hospital."

Immediately Kurt's heart began thumping painfully against his ribs again. "Oh god," he mumbled. "What happened? What's wrong? You—wait, is dad—Rachel?"

"What?" came Finn's confused response. "No, dude, everything is fine," he assured him quickly. "It's the baby." A pause, and he clarified. "That is, Rachel's having the baby."

Kurt took a moment to breathe, reveling in the fact that everyone was all right. Then, the news seemed to register somewhere in his brain. "Wait—seriously?"

"Yeah, dude," Finn told him. "I've been here for hours—it's just been so crazy—I didn't have the chance to call before."

"Yeah, no," Kurt said slowly. "I totally understand."

"Well, she wants you here," Finn continued. "Keeps asking for you. Best friend and godfather and all that." There was a pause. "You don't have to rush down or anything, though, man. I mean, this whole 'miracle of birth' thing isn't exactly all it's cracked up to be."

Kurt rolled his eyes slightly. "I've just gotta get someone to watch Aiden and Ella," he reported. "I'll see if Mercedes and Sam can come over."

"Right," Finn responded. "Forgot Blaine's outta town. But I'll call you if anything else happens. Otherwise, I'll see you soon, 'kay?"

"See you soon," Kurt responded, and he heard the click indicating that the call was ended. He sighed, waiting for the call time to stop flashing before flicking through his list of contacts to call Mercedes.

Half an hour later, as it neared four o'clock, there was a knock on the door, and Kurt was hurrying to it, letting Mercedes and Sam slide past him. They were still in their pajamas, though Sam had a bag slung over his shoulder, which Kurt could only assume contained clothes for them later.

"Thanks again for this," Kurt said breathlessly.

"Not a problem," Mercedes assured him. "We're happy to watch the little ones. But you make sure you call me the moment that little baby is born. The moment non-family visitors can come by, I'm there."

Kurt chuckled. "I'll make sure you know," he told her. "Now, I better be off. You call me if there are any problems?"

"Of course," she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Now go. And tell me how adorable the baby is—no wait! Pictures! I want pictures! Text them to me!" she called after him as he made his way down the driveway.

Fifteen minutes later, Kurt found himself being led to the waiting area. "Someone will come out as soon as they're ready for you," the nurse assured him, and he thanked her quietly. He took a seat, leaning back in the chair and resting his head against the wall.

Maybe, he thought, just maybe, if he was lucky, he could catch a little bit more sleep...

He wasn't sure how long he drifted off for. All he knew was that suddenly, he was being awoken by the sound of Finn's voice. He jolted slightly, blinking in confusion at his step-brother.

"Oh my god, dude, you have to see him," Finn said breathlessly, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sorry you were here waiting so long—I don't know, some nurse was telling me that first-time mothers are usually in labor for sixteen hours on average, or something like that. So I guess it wasn't that long. But, you know. Well, he's—god, he's perfect. Come on, you have to see."

Kurt nodded, still a little out of it, getting to his feet and following Finn into the room.

Rachel was sitting in the bed, looking completely exhausted, the tiny bundle in her arms. She looked up at Kurt, smiling weakly at him, but instantly returning her eyes to her baby.

Finn pushed Kurt into the chair right beside the bed, moving to the other side of the chair to stand right beside his wife.

"He's beautiful," Kurt told her in a tiny whisper, and she completely beamed at the compliment.

"He's so tiny," Finn said.

"How big is he?" Kurt asked.

"Seven pounds, eight ounces," Rachel recited, "seventeen inches long."

"At least he didn't take after Finn in the size department," Kurt teased. "I don't think you'd be quite as fond of a twenty pound baby."

"Hey," Finn said defensively, "I'll have you know that I was only half that when I was born."

"And I still pity your mother," Kurt sighed, sticking his tongue out. "Speaking of, where is Mrs. Hudson-Hummel?"

Finn shrugged. "I called right before I called you, but I haven't been able to get a hold of her since," he said. "I figured that she must have had an emergency at the hospital. I was going to check in to see if she was here, but I didn't want to bother her if she was busy."

Kurt nodded. "But you left her a message?" he asked, and Finn nodded. "Then I'm sure she'll be here whenever she gets a moment. Dad will, too."

"Mr. and Mrs. Hudson?" The three glanced up as the nurse entered the room. "I just needed the name to put down on the birth certificate, if you were ready."

There was silence, and Kurt sensed as Rachel and Finn were glancing at each other. Then, Rachel closed her hand around Kurt's.

"Kurt?" she asked, hardly audible, and he glanced up at her.

"I told you," he said calmly. "Yes. It's fine."

She nodded, and looked up at the nurse. "Alex," she told her. "Alexander James Hudson."

The nurse smiled at them, scribbling the name down. "Lovely," she told them with a smile. "I'll leave you be."

The nurse left, and Rachel grinned down at the tiny baby in her arms. "We figured we could always call him AJ, too," she informed Kurt. "So it's not just... Alex." Kurt nodded. "Did you want to hold him?"

"I—oh, I don't know..." he mumbled, but suddenly Rachel was pressing the bundle of blankets into Kurt's arms.

Kurt couldn't remember the last time something so tiny and delicate was in his hands. Even Aiden was vaguely older when they had adopted him. But here was this tiny child, entrusted in Kurt's care, not even a few hours old.

It felt completely unreal to him.

"Alex," Kurt whispered to the baby, brushing the tiny wisps of hair off of the baby's forehead. "You're really something special, you know that, little one?"

Finn pulled up a chair beside his step-brother, watching as he interacted with his son. Suddenly, a ringing filled the room and Kurt jumped slightly.

"God, I'm sorry," he mumbled, and Finn quickly held his arms out for the baby. Kurt handed him over and quickly extricated his phone from his pocket. "It's Mom," he said, glancing at Finn.

"Go on, answer it," Rachel told him. "Tell her where we are. We'll be here."

Kurt flashed a smile, taking his phone and walking briskly out of the room. He quickly clicked the button to answer.

"Carole!" Kurt greeted breathlessly. "Hey, Finn and I have been trying to get a hold of you. You have to see the baby, he's—"

"Kurt, honey," Carole said slowly. "I'm at the hospital."

"Yeah, me too," he responded. "Where—?"

"No," Carole cut in, and she sighed. "Sweetheart, I'm here with your father. We're in the ER."

"What—?"

"Your father's had another heart attack," she told him, and Kurt felt his heart plummet. It felt like all of the air had been taken from his body. "It—I... Honey, it really isn't good."

The phone fell from Kurt's hand, smashing onto the linoleum floor. Because no, no, this simply couldn't be happening. Not now—not ever.

And at one o'clock in the afternoon, the realization struck Kurt that bad news could come at any moment, completely oblivious to the time of day.