Burt Hummel was a hard-working, blue collar guy. He didn’t even try to pretend to keep up with the latest fashion trends or healthy food recipes his son was so interested in. Oh, sure, he’d listen to Kurt’s long stories about the newest fashions in New York, or rants on how he couldn’t find a scarf in just the right color to match his new jacket. But it was indulgent listening; he was only interested in it because it was Kurt telling him, and as long as his kid was talking to him, he would always be interested in what Kurt was saying.

Which was why, during their weekly Friday night dinner, Burt was bemused at how quiet Kurt was. He’d made supper in almost complete silence, only speaking to answer a question or respond to Burt’s own comments. And now, he sat watching as Kurt took small bites of his food every now and then, and otherwise just pushed things around on his plate.

Finally, Burt had had enough. He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest in consternation. “Alright, kiddo. Out with it.”

Kurt looked at him quickly, with what could only be described as a ‘deer-caught-in-headlights’ expression on his face.

Surprisingly, Kurt didn’t immediately try to deny that anything was wrong. Which in itself was an indication of how serious it was. Burt watched with a sinking stomach as Kurt glanced down, putting down his fork, slowly and deliberately wiping his mouth with one of the cloth napkins he insisted they use. Then, he just sat for a moment, staring at his plate.

“Remember my school physical, when I was fourteen?”

The question is so out of left field, Burt’s arms sag where they’re still crossed, until his elbows were resting on the table. “Uh…yeah… What about it?”

Kurt continued like his dad hadn’t even responded, still not looking up from the table. “How the doctor told you afterwards I probably wouldn’t get much bigger, and that I was, or would be, almost certainly gay?”

Boy, did Burt remember. He’d almost decked the guy, before the doctor had a chance to explain that Kurt was a ‘breeding male’ – a boy who was able to become pregnant and give birth. They’d learned about them in Sex Ed in High School, but Burt had never expected to have a son who was a Breeder.

He hadn’t told Kurt at first what the doctor had told him. He didn’t know if the doctor had told Kurt, either, and wasn’t going to ask. It was only after Kurt came out to him, almost two years later, that he revealed he knew, and learned that the doctor hadn’t told Kurt any of his findings, aside from the fact that, despite being a little small for his age range, Kurt was in fine physical condition. A crash sex ed talk was given, embarrassing both Hummel men, and then never mentioned again. Kurt started dating Finn at the beginning of the school year, but Burt liked Finn, so it was a surprisingly smooth transition.

“I’m pregnant.”

Burt froze. He didn’t know what to say. Honestly, he wasn’t sure he’d heard right. He was hoping he hadn’t heard right.

But, watching his son, his baby, who was no longer a baby at all… He knew. He knew this was really happening.

“Dad?” Burt looked up, not having realized he’d been staring at the table in silence, much like Kurt had been, until Kurt’s hesitant voice called him back. He was watching Burt anxiously.

Burt took a deep breath. He thought of and disgarded several things to say. Nothing good was going to come out of his mouth right now, though, so he finally settled on looking evenly at Kurt and saying, “I hope you don’t expect me to be okay with this, right off the bat.”

Kurt fidgeted for a minute, before suddenly jumping up from his seat. With jerky movements, he grabbed both his plate with his half-eaten dinner on it, as well as Burt’s finished dinner plate, and moving into the kitchen.

Burt sighed. Yeah, he could’ve handled that better. He followed Kurt into the kitchen, but kept his distance, knowing Kurt needed space when he was agitated. Hell, so did he, and he was certainly agitated now, after just finding out that his teenage son was pregnant!

“Kurt.”

“What?” Kurt snapped, his back turned while he cleaned off his uneaten food in the trash, then put the plates in the sink and started running the water.

“Don’t take that tone with me, kid! I just got told my son—my teenaged son in HIGH SCHOOL—is pregnant! You want me to throw you a parade?! I wanna know what happened! No—“ Burt quickly backpedaled, because when Kurt was in this kind of mood, it would be typical of him to at least threaten to give Burt a play-by-play of exactly ‘how it happened.’ “Lets start over. I’m not thrilled. But…” Burt sighed. “We’re in this thing together, kiddo. You know I’ll be here for ya.”

Kurt stood at the sink for a moment, then suddenly shoved the water off, spun around and wrapped his arms around Burt’s middle.

After a shocked moment, Burt’s arms came up to wrap around his son’s shoulders. Kurt may not ever get as big as other guys, but Burt noticed that he was almost at an even height with his son now, and Kurt had to lean down to bury his face against his shoulder, as he began to cry.

Burt rubbed his hands up and down Kurt’s back. “It’s okay, kiddo. It’ll be okay.”

They sat in the living room, Kurt in the lazy boy and Burt on the couch adjacent. Kurt had assumed his usual ‘upset’ post, pulling his legs to his chest and wrapping his arms around his shins, his chin tucked against his knees, trying to make himself as small as possible. It hurt Burt to see it; it had been so long since he’d seen Kurt curl up on himself like that. After joining the cheerleading squad, Kurt had really blossomed, and was genuinely happy, for the most part.

Burt decided on what was the best thing to say first…and couldn’t think of anything. There was nothing good he could say. So instead, he tried to think of the most pressing thing to ask. “Does…Have you told Finn, yet?”

Kurt’s eyes flitted toward his dad, without actually settling on him, before nodding against his knees. “Yeah. Yesterday. He…wasn’t thrilled. To say the least.”

Burt shook his head a little. “Well, it is kinda a big surprise. He’s a good kid—guy. He’ll come around.”

Kurt gave a humorless, painful-sounding laugh, and shook his head, still staring through the coffee table. “No, I really don’t think he will.”

Burt started to get upset at that. If anything riled him, it was people not taking responsibility for their actions. “Well, he’d damn well better! He’s part of the reason this—“ he waved his hand vaguely at Kurt, “happened! He’d better man up and take some responsibility!”

Kurt glanced away, hiding his face from Burt for a moment. Then he looked into the small space between his legs and mumbled, “He didn’t…” He took a deep breath, but didn’t look up. “Finn’s not…the father.”

That made Burt stop short. He frowned, trying to remember the math involved in determining pregnancy stuff. “You’re—how far along are you? Haven’t you guys been dating since, like, the start of the school year?”

Kurt nodded miserably, tucking his face inside his knees, so all Burt could see was the top of his perfectly styled brunet hair.

Burt tried to puzzle it out. It was the middle of October, and school had started toward the end of August, so that was only a couple of months. “I, uh…I thought Finn was your first boyfriend.”

All Burt got was another miserable nod against Kurt’s knees. Finally, he sighed. “Kurt, you gotta talk to me. Explain this to me. What the hell is goin’ on?”

Kurt mumbled against his knees, but even with his arms and legs muffling the noise, Burt figured out what he said.

I cheated on Finn.

Oh, boy. Burt dragged both hands down his face, then for good measure he doffed his hat and scrubbed a hand over the top of his bald head. “Okay. So…okay. You…were already dating Finn. But, you cheated on him, with some other…boy,” he just couldn’t say ‘man,’ he just couldn’t, “you had sex with him, and he got you pregnant. Is that right?”

Kurt’s head finally popped up, his face red, either from anger or embarrassment, possibly both. “Yes, okay?! Yes, I’m a complete asshole, who cheated on his boyfriend, and got pregnant for it! I get it, I got what I deserved!”

“Hey!” Burt barked. He pointed a warning finger at his son. “Don’t you take that tone with me, first of all. And I never said any of that, I think that’s all you. Do I think that it was reckless to have unprotected sex with someone you’re not with? Yeah, hell yeah, I do. But I think you’re giving yourself enough of a hard time over the consequences of your actions, I’m not gonna add to them. Hell, if I had my way, you’d be a virgin until you were 30 and married. But, that’s not gonna happen, clearly, so… I’m…accepting. Or, trying to be accepting. It’s a learning curve, okay, and it’s been a long time since I’ve had to deal with one of those, so cut me just a little slack here.”

Burt took a deep breath, rubbed his hands over his thighs. He hated when stuff like this happened with Kurt. He never knew how to deal with it. He was never any good at this kind of stuff. He always kind of figured Katherine would deal with whatever teenage drama Kurt came home with.

But, Katherine wasn’t here now. And he was just gonna have to make do.

“So. Have you told…this other guy, about…that, you’re…” He just couldn’t say it again, so he waved over at Kurt again.

Kurt slowly started to uncurl his body, keeping his legs up in the chair, but lowering his knees until he was sitting with his feet pressed against one arm of the chair, his knees tilted against the other. His arms were wrapped around his stomach. He nodded slowly. “Yeah. Before—the day before yesterday. He’s…” He shrugged. He still wasn’t sure what Blaine was. Weirdly devoted to him, despite never actually approaching him until this spring just before school got out. But he was willing to help Kurt out, willing to support him, however he could, for as long as he needed or wanted it. And that…that was something. He wasn’t sure he wanted to believe how deep Blaine seemed to feel for him…he just couldn’t believe in that. Yet. “He’s supportive. Of whatever I…decide.”

Burt nodded slowly. “So am I, Kurt. I don’t want you to think…just because this is unexpected… You’re…well, you’re not exactly an adult yet, but…you’re not a kid anymore, either. This is your life, your choices. I…I don’t want you to do anything you’d…well, that you’d regret, later on, in your life.”

Kurt sat perfectly still for a moment, staring at his dad, with his arms wrapped protectively around his chest. “You mean an abortion,” he finally said, his voice gravelly with concealed emotion.

Burt gazed back at him, face unreadable, except for the concern creasing his brow. After a short pause, he said, “Not necessarily. Like I said: your life, your choices. You could end up regretting any choice you make, Kurt.” His voice was soft, despite his words. “That’s the way it is with all tough choices. There may not be a right call for this, and one person’s right call could be completely wrong for someone else.”

“I don’t—“ Kurt had to stop and swallow, breathe for a minute while he glanced away. “I don’t want to get rid of it. “It’s stupid, I didn’t plan this, I didn’t want it, it’s barely been over a month since it even—happened. But I…I want it.”

Kurt heaved a large, weary sigh, heavy with the burden of his choices, and what each would mean for him, and his future. “But if I keep it… I’ll be stuck. Here. I don’t want to be stuck here!” the words exploded, loud as a gunshot in the quiet house. “I don’t want to be stuck here, with nothing but a high school diploma, the only jobs I’m able to get requiring a name-tag and some polyester uniform, trudging through monotony, getting home exhausted and having to take care of a baby, a child, a house!” He was working himself into a frenzy, finally uncurling himself more, gesticulating wildly in the air with his arms. “And I know Blaine said he’d be there to help, for as long as I needed, whatever I needed, but I can’t—I can’t trust that, how do I know that he will?! I don’t!”

“Blaine…that’s this kid’s name? The…father?”

Kurt gave a jerky shrug in affirmation. “You met him, over the summer, at the shop that one time. Classic Chevy, he wears a leather coat like it’s grafted to his skin. Blaine Anderson.”

It was Burt’s turn to go very still and quiet. “He—he’s the one, who did this to you?” he asked lowly.

Kurt was too agitated to notice the shift in his dad’s demeanor. “I did this to myself! And there’s no way to fix it, because whatever I decide, I think I’m gonna end up miserable!”

Burt swallowed, trying to remember that, above everything else, he had to be here for Kurt, first and foremost. “There’s always adoption—“

“I want this baby!” Kurt practically yelled, vehemently. He seemed more startled by his outburst than his father, who just sat passively, watching as Kurt settled back in the chair, all the fight seeming to leave him with that outburst. He glanced down at his hands, starting to pick at the cuff of his shirt listlessly. “Well,” he finally spoke softly. “I guess that answers that question, at least.”

It was Burt’s turn to sigh. He couldn’t tell Kurt that he’d made the right choice, or that he was proud of him, because there was no definitively right choice, and while Burt was always immensely proud of his son, this was not the kind of decision one could be proud about, no matter what the alternatives or how he felt about them. “You won’t be alone, Kurt. Even if—if this Blaine kid, decides—well. You know you’ve always got me. I’ll hire you as an office assistant, or something, if you want, after high school. Put you on the official payroll and everything. You’ll be okay, Kurt. I know it’s not the life you wanted, it’s not really the life I wanted for you, either, but…you’ll be okay.” He couldn’t promise any more than that, it was the best he could do.

It was those words, more than anything that had come before, that had Kurt tearing up, and he launched himself out of the chair suddenly, rushing over to his father and falling on the couch beside him, hugging him and sobbing against his shoulder.