Kurt got off the elevator on the obstetric floor, unsteady and overwhelmed by the whirlwind of emotions Quinn's head game had just wreaked on him.   He leaned against the wall to catch his breath before seeing Blaine.  As he tried to compose himself, he looked over the two sheets of paper, focusing on his lab report including his name and the date of his test, a lot of gobbledygook medical terms, and the conclusion, that he was the father of Blaine's baby.  He was going to have a biological child with someone he loved, something he'd never believed would ever be possible.  The three of them would be the first family of this kind, ever, in history… two cis gendered, same sex parents producing their own genetic offspring. The press would have a field day with this if it leaked out. And the politics of it, the controversy it would stir up, legal, religious, social….was unfathomable.  No doubt, some of that would blow back against their daughter too.

Even setting all that aside, though … Kurt loved Blaine, and he knew they would be good, loving parents and married partners … some day.  In about ten years.  This was being thrust upon them at the least convenient time imaginable.  Blaine was still only 17 and had a year to go in high school; and Kurt had just been accepted to the school of his dreams hundreds of miles away in New York City.  Tuition, room and board at NYADA would be expensive, and he'd planned on getting a job to cover costs as it was.  How could he contribute any financial support to their baby?  Worse … how could he be there for Blaine and the baby while working full time, going to school full time, and living so far away?  

Kurt looked out the window across the hall at the hospital parking lot and at the dingy strip mall across the street. He knew the answer to his own question. He'd known it deep down a long time, even while fighting the truth in his own mind.  He could be the King of Denial at times, but there was no running away from this.

He knew that he would have to do the practical thing, the right thing.The thing his father would do in his place.  After high school graduation, Kurt Hummel wouldn't head off to the bright lights of New York after all. He'd get a job in Lima, enroll in community college, and stay in Ohio.  Once Blaine had the baby and recovered, and finished high school, maybe … maybe they could move to New York with their little girl and go to college, maybe try to make it in the business, but it would be a struggle financially and in every other way with a child to raise at the same time.  He sighed, saying goodbye silently to his dreams of drama school in New York, of rooming the first year with Rachel and Finn, of living the carefree life of a college student. He was going to be a father, and that came first.

“Hey,” Blaine's soft voice interrupted his thoughts.  Kurt looked up and into his first and one true love's eyes.  “You look like you got the news.  I … guess you're still not feeling all this …?  Us having a baby together?  Kurt, I - -”

“I love you,” Kurt whispered.  He pulled Blaine to him, squeezing him close for a long moment, feeling Blaine's breathing and calming down.  “I love you.  And we have parents who'll help us, I know, once … once I tell my dad and we get him to understand.  We'll make it work.”  He leaned back and took Blaine's face in his hands.  “Do you want to have this baby?  Because … if you do, I'll be there.   One hundred percent,” he stressed, gazing at him intently.  “I'll get a job in Lima to help with the medical bills, and - -”

“Hey,” Blaine soothed him, stroking his arms.  “Don't worry about the medical bills, that's all going to be taken care of, at least my prenatal and recovery, and the baby's newborn admission.  Dr. Shelley says she has a grant from her hospital to cover that stuff, as long as I let her write a book about me and the baby or something.   We won't have expenses really until after the baby comes home.”  Blaine was talking in a rush, excited now that Kurt was on board.  

“Speaking of that.  She says we'll probably want to schedule a c-section for December 15 or so, it'll be filmed and a lot of doctors are going to come and observe.  My first starring role on film,” Blaine joked, and Kurt smiled in spite of his worries.  “I looked up NYADA's schedule on line and they have an early winter break, so the students and professors can be in holiday shows.  So you can come home and see her be born then without missing too much school - -”

Kurt shook his head. Blaine didn't understand … he had to be here.  He had to be with Blaine and then with their baby, he couldn't leave them behind for other people to look after.  He hadn't asked for any of this, neither of them had, but just the same his responsibility was clear.  He swallowed hard.  “That - that won't matter about NYADA's break. I didn't want to upset you so I didn't tell you.  I didn't get into NYADA,” he lied.  

Blaine's jaw dropped.  “Kurt - how could that happen!  You were so amazing at your audition!  I was sure you'd get in … weren't you at least wait listed?”

Kurt picked at Blaine's collar nervously.  It was so hard to lie to Blaine, but …“No.  But it's just as well under the circumstances, don't you think?  Now I'll be able to be here with you and our baby girl,” he said.  His voice sounded too high, and Blaine began to say something else, but Kurt surged forward and kissed his open mouth fiercely, cutting off any more questions for the moment.

~ * ~ * ~

Kurt drove home on auto-pilot, dully taking in what passed for the Lima sights.  The businesses that he had to choose from as potential employers, on top of the job he'd already landed at the Lima Bean for the summer.  He was tired just thinking about it, but even with the medical bills handled for the time being, there would be bills and expenses to think about and the sooner he got to work at a second job and started saving money, the better.  But ugh.  The Lima Bean was the only place he really could tolerate working, he thought, looking at the choices as he drove past.    HMO claims processing centers.  The DMV.  The rendering plant.  Mattress Land.  Sheets-N-Things.  The Midwest's Largest Free-Standing Ball of Twine.  Rinky Dinks, the Lima Bean and Breadstix.  Between the Sheets Music.  The Lima Mall.  He pulled up outside Hummel Lube & Tire, and pulled the key from the ignition.   

He sat and stared at his Dad's shop.  The most likely candidate, except that he'd allowed Finn to worm his way into his Dad's good graces and become the heir apparent.  When he'd been Broadway bound, he hadn't really cared who was next in line to run the tire shop, but now … it was either work for Dad, or at one of the many depressing, pedestrian businesses in this pathetic cow town.

Well, just because they were stuck here another year while Blaine finished high school, didn't mean they'd have to stay forever.  He'd get some credits at Allen County Community College, and then …  their baby would be six or seven months old when Blaine finished high school and they could regroup and find a college together, share expenses … they'd make it work.  They had to.  It was slow suicide for them to stay here permanently, but one step at a time.

He clambered out of the car, awkwardly, brushing his unwieldy stomach against the steering wheel on the way out.  Jesus, this extra weight was getting out of hand. He rubbed his belly, and stretched his back, then started in to the garage.   Finn was there in his extra-tall coveralls, with his name proudly embroidered on the chest.  Kurt hated coveralls and only tolerated them as a necessary evil to save his clothes when forced to work in the shop for extra pocket money.  Meanwhile, Finn had nearly wept with pride when Burt had presented him with those personalized coveralls.

“Hi, Finn.  Working another shift?  Weren't you here last night?”

Finn grinned good-naturedly.  “Yeah, but now that Rachel and I are engaged, and I'm planning on going to school in New York, gotta save all my money.  I still can't believe I got into Pace, and I'm gonna be going to the Inside the Actors Studio guy's school!”

Kurt couldn't believe it either.   Finn would be studying acting in New York, and he would be lubing cars for rednecks back here in Ohio.  He managed a thin smile.  Finn wiped his hands on a rag and asked, gently, “So … any word from NYADA yet?”

Kurt looked down, and decided here was where his acting training would have to begin, not at the Actors Studio Drama School like Finn, or NYADA like Rachel.  He looked up sadly.  “Yeah ..  I didn't get in.  I'll be sticking around here for a while, I guess.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father approaching from the office.

“Aw, man, that sucks a hot one … you just got the letter?” Finn said, all sympathy.  

“Uh, yeah,” Kurt said.

“Rachel's gonna have a cow about it … she was all set for the three of us to conquer Manhattan together.”

“Yeah, well, Rachel will have to get over it, I guess,” Kurt said irritably.

“Kurt.  My office.  Now, kiddo,” his father barked, in a tone that would not permit any arguing.   He meekly followed Burt into the office in the back.

“What's all that crap about you not getting into NYADA?  Why did you tell Finn that?”

“Because … I'm not going. I'm staying here with Blaine, dad.  And I'd rather not have Blaine know I'm giving up NYADA, okay?”

Burt pressed his thumbs into his eyes.  “Kurt, I need you to explain this to me very carefully and clearly.”

“The thing is, Dad, I need to have a serious discussion with you about something, and right now.  It involves Blaine … and the whole family, in a way.  Especially you.  I've made up my mind I'm not going away to college, but I'll be needing a job … and you'll need someone when Finn goes to Pace, right?”

“Kurt, you can always work at the garage, that's not the point.  The point is that sure, you're a better mechanic than Finn, but you hate it. You don't belong here or in Ohio, Kurt, and I just don't get why you're throwing away this chance.”

“Do you trust me, Dad?  To do the right thing, for the right reasons?”

“Of course, but you won't explain what's going on that would make you give up an opportunity like this to stay in Lima with Blaine.  I don't approve, Kurt, I think you're being foolish.  Unless there's something you're not telling me, that is.”

Kurt looked down at his feet.  “There is,” he said finally.  “You'll understand when Blaine and I sit you down and tell you everything.  He's asked his parents to have us over, you, me, Carol, and Finn and Rachel, to have a family discussion about what's going to happen.”

“So the Andersons get a vote in whether you go to college or not?” Burt said, frustrated.  “Kurt, this doesn't make any sense, and I demand to know what the hell is going on.”

“I can't tell you right now, but I promise I'll tell you, with Blaine, at Sunday dinner at the Andersons'.  But just don't tell him I got into NYADA, please, it's really important that he doesn't know, so please promise me you'll keep that to yourself?”

Burt stared, eyes narrowed, at Kurt for so long that Kurt started sweating.  “Please, Dad.  It's my business and I don't want him to know. You'll understand when you hear the whole story, okay?  Mrs. Anderson said to ask you all for Sunday dinner tomorrow.”

“Fine … But fair warning, Kurt.  If I don't hear some pretty convincing reasons, I'm not promising to keep my mouth shut.”

“You'll understand when you hear the whole thing, Dad.  You'll … you'll be proud of me, I think.”

“I'm always proud of you, Kurt, you know that. And I can tell something big's up with Blaine, I get that much.  But sometimes you go overboard with protecting people you love, and sacrifice too much.  Like when you threw that singing contest with Rachel to protect me.  Please don't do that with your college plans, your future, because you're tryin' to help Blaine somehow.”

Kurt flushed. He'd denied Blaine's baby was his for weeks, and left Blaine feeling alone in all this too long. He couldn't let him, or the baby, down by leaving them. He swallowed and whispered, “Dad, you taught me that being a good man sometimes means just that. You'll see tomorrow I learned what you taught me.”