Sugar Baby

Thirty

"I want you to promise me something, Blaine" Kurt said softly, voice strained and heartbreaking. "If anything happens, you will have to make the decision. I want you to promise that, if it comes to a point when you have to choose to save me or the baby, you'll let them save him instead of me."

"Kurt, no," Blaine protested, eyes filling with tears as he squeezed Kurt's hand, Lauren moving around at the foot of the bed, gently manoeuvring Kurt's feet into the stirrups. "I can't choose between the love of my life and my child, I can't let you go, how could I raise a baby if every time I looked at him all I saw was you? It would be my fault that you were dead, I don't want to have to make that decision."

"Promise me, Blaine," Kurt insisted, voice a little stronger, almost commanding. "I don't want to live on knowing we lost our baby, the little boy I was carrying. I want you to take him and look after him and raise him to be a truly good person, like you. And, if I have to leave you, I want you to move on, and find someone else."

"I'll never want any other man but you," Blaine whispered, voice quivering with suppressed sobs. "But it's what you want, and I can't have you resent me forever for letting her go to save you, so I give my permission, if it comes to that, for them to make sure she stays alive even if it means you dying. But that won't happen. I won't lose you." He let out a sob and breathed, "Kurt, I love you."

"I love you too, Blaine," Kurt promised, giving him a weak smile and squeezing his hand. "And I hope it won't get to that point, but just in case, I need your word." He tensed and breathed hard through another contraction.

"You're doing so well," Lauren promised, giving the two of them a reassuring smile and reaching for her tools. "How do you feel, Kurt?"

"Tired," Kurt answered shortly, another nurse hooking a heart monitor onto his hand, cheerfully chattering away to him about nonsensical things as she busied herself getting the machinery working and taking his initial pulse. "Sore. But I've got my Blaine, and I know it'll all be worth it in the end."

Kurt screamed suddenly, and Blaine started violently, biting hard into her lower lip to muffle a yelp as Kurt's hand contracted around his, crushing his fingers painfully together. Lauren was immediately at attention at the end of the bed, eyes attentive and professional on what was going on beneath Kurt's hospital gown, telling him, "You have to push hard now, Kurt. It's going to hurt, but from how fast your labour has progressed, particularly for a male pregnancy, it won't be for long. You have Blaine, just hold on to him and focus on pushing and breathing."

Blaine held Kurt's hand as tight as he held his, laying a cool hand over his forehead and whispering reassurances to him as he groaned and screamed, his free hand clenching into the sheets as he squeezed his eyes shut, muttering oaths against Blaine and the heavens and everything that had worked together to put him through the agony. Almost crying himself, Blaine remembered Puck's weakly terrified accounts of being in the hospital with Quinn, almost six years ago, when she'd given birth to Beth, the screaming and the threats and the swearing, and almost admired Kurt for how restrained he was being compared to what Quinn had apparently been. "Just one more push, Kurt," Lauren promised as Blaine pressed a kiss to Kurt's temple. "Then it'll all be over."

Hearing his bones crunch, Blaine bit back a yelp, knowing it would not be welcome, as Kurt squeezed his hand harder than ever before, eyes flying wide open, an awful, high-pitched scream of agony ripped from his throat, echoing long around the room before he fell back to the mattress with a creak of the bedsprings, breathing heavily as the lines of agony carved deep into his face slowly softened. "You did it," Blaine whispered reverently, leaning over to press a kiss to Kurt's sweaty forehead. "You're amazing, Kurt."

"Would you like to cut the cord?" Lauren asked gently, drawing Blaine away from Kurt's face, shining out with relief, and he nodded, not trusting himself to speak without crying as she beckoned him to the bottom of the bed, where she showed him where to cut and handed him a small pair of scissors. Blaine cut carefully, gazing all the while down at the baby boy, wailing and squirming, skin mottled blue and red and blood smeared across him, more beautiful than anything else he'd ever seen in his twenty-eight years. "The miracle of birth, huh?" Lauren teased gently, and Blaine just nodded, the tears spilling down his cheeks as he took up his seat next to Kurt once more, another nurse bearing their son away to be cleaned and wrapped.

The staff around them all smiled on them as Kurt slowly eased himself into a sitting position, wincing obviously, and held out his arms. "Give him to me," he whispered, voice hoarse. "Let me see my beautiful baby boy." Lauren smiled and passed the cleaned baby, now swaddled in a white blanket, to Kurt, whose face transformed into a serene expression of pure love as he looked down on the small, pink face, the tiny boy cradled in his arms. "Hi baby. I'm Kurt, but you're going to call me Daddy." He looked up at Blaine, eyes shining with euphoria, and slung an arm around his neck to pull him down for a soft kiss, breathing against his lips as the tears coursed down Blaine's cheeks. "Honey, stop, I'm fine, he's fine, he's so beautiful. He's our baby, our little miracle."

"Our boy," Blaine murmured, laying a palm over their son's tiny head, soft, downy hair brushing against his skin as their baby blinked curious blue eyes, seemingly more knowledgable than a child so young should be, up at him and grabbed for his finger, tiny hand wrapping around his thumb and clutching, bringing more tears spilling from his eyes. "He's all ours. He'll always be ours. Alexander Burton Anderson-Hummel, welcome to the world."

"You picked a name!" Kurt exclaimed, eyes shining up at Blaine, and he nodded with a slight humble shrug. "And it's so perfect. I just couldn't think of anything, I thought I'd have to give up on honouring my dad." He looked up to meet Blaine's eyes, his wet with tears. "I think, despite the age difference and the accidental pregnancy and everything else we've been through, my dad would approve of you. I think he would love you almost as much as I do." Blaine laughed through a sob, and Kurt reached up to kiss him, slow and deep, their precious son cradled between them.