"Burt!" Elizabeth's cried, clutching the still-running faucet tightly as she felt a slight niggling pain in her stomach.

"What is it, hon'?" Elizabeth's husband, Burt Hummel, replied in a lax tone from, she assumed, the lounge.

"The ba-BY!" Her reply became a scream as the pain became sharper. Burt was suddenly at her side and wrapping an arm around her waist, guiding her towards the sitting room and placing her on the couch as he rushed around for the bag she had packed a few days previous, for the hospital stay. Elizabeth breathed calmly as Burt said that he would take her to the hospital. She nodded and eased herself off of the couch, accepting the hand that Burt extended to his wife, and slowly made her way out to their car, swatting away Burt as he kept on placing a hand on her swollen stomach and claiming that he was 'checking the baby was okay'.

Cooper sat in the blue room at the end of the hall. It had been empty up until eight months ago, just a room that homed spiders (these still gave him the chills), and the old dusty piano that his father had used before he had left. However, over the last sixth months, his mother, June, and aunt Reesa had spent time painting the walls a pale blue, and the skirting boards a glossy white. Three months later, they were moving large, flat boxes (that Cooper hoped played host to some new toys for him), that had been unpacked, and their contents had created a white crib, a matching chest of drawers, and numerous other things that weren't for him. And one day, when he had asked his aunt why his mother was getting fat, she had told him that she was looking after Cooper's new baby brother, and that he would get to meet him in several months. He didn't really understand what she had spoken about at the time, but now, as his mother came upstairs saying "Cooper, honey, you're gonna' have to come on a little trip with Mommy and aunt Reesa.", as she had clutched her enormous belly. He had nodded, and asked if he could bring the book her was reading – Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Now, as Cooper sat in the brightly coloured room at the hospital, he wondered what his brother would be like; will he like to play games? Will he want to be best friends? Shrugging slightly, he turned his thoughts back to his book, smiling as he went back to reading about Harry's adventures in the sport Quidditch. He hoped one day that he would be able to play the sport himself, to be able to fly around on a broom, and catch the Golden Snitch, and celebrate with his team mates. He wanted to hear the cheers from Gryffindor house, and smile proudly at them because he had won. Maybe, one day, he would be able to teach Blaine how to play, and help him choose out his first broom. He giggled to himself, his tummy jumping about at the thought of having to someone to look out for, and take care of.

Sitting on a bed in the maternity ward at Lima General, Elizabeth looked through a copy of Vogue, reading some parts aloud to her unborn child. Upon hearing heavy, panting breaths, she looked to her left to see a small woman – though her large baby bump would make you think differently – coming through the doors with a similar looking woman, a little taller and minus a swollen stomach, coming towards the bed beside her. The woman had tanned skin, and bouncy black curls that framed her face. When she was on the bed, she had ridden out her contraction and smiled across the gap between their beds at Elizabeth, introducing herself as June Anderson, and the other woman as he sister, Teresa. "Elizabeth Hummel." She smiled back, placing the open magazine down on her lap. The three women then got in to conversation, both finding out that they were due around the same time, and that the smaller woman was expecting a baby boy (she still wasn't sure of what to call him). Burt soon arrived back from the hospital cafeteria with coffee for himself, and orange juice for Elizabeth.

The hours passed, and the four adults talked between cups of coffee, bottles of juice, magazines, baby names, and just the general stuff that adults discussed. Both women had eventually had to accept pain relief in the form of an epidural. Soon, though, Elizabeth was checked on by a midwife as her contractions became more frequent and painful, and was told that she was almost ready to start pushing. Her heart then suddenly dropped. She was scared. However, she was also excited; her child was soon going to be brought in to the world, the son or daughter that her and the man she loved had created. Really, it was all so exciting.

He was nearing the three quarter point of his book, and his mother still hadn't come to see him. Aunt Reesa had brought him a carton of apple juice and some cookies before saying that Mommy needed him, and that she would come and check on him in a little while. As he sat reading his book, he smiled to himself at how far he had gotten. His aunt had told him that for a four year old he was very intelligent, and that he would grow up to be big and clever like his mommy, and that he would have to teach his baby brother to read, and protect him. He would be an awesome big brother, he was sure of this.

Eventually, he finished his book, and his aunt Reesa soon came running in to the room, telling him that he needed to come with her now, that it was important, and he needed to be quick.

"Elizabeth, it's a boy!" The midwife called as she wrapped the small squishy bundle of baby in a white towel, wiping his face on it.

Tears streaked Elizabeth's sweaty face as Burt squeezed her hand in his own, and the smile that spread across her lips was enough to blind as her son was placed in her arms. "Burt... this is... this is our baby.", was all she could manage as the baby in her arms stopped crying, and just stared up at her through half-lidded eyes. Her vision was blurred as she look at her baby through her tearful eyes. "Oh, darling, he's... he's perfect."

"Yeah, yeah, he is." Burt smiled down at his wife, and she looked up to see tears in his own eyes. "We did good, hon'."

Elizabeth nodded, looking down at the beautiful brunet baby boy that she had in her arms. She made a gesture for Burt to hold him and smiled at her boys. She would never give this up, not for the world.

"Aunt Reesa, why are we rushing? Does... does my new baby brother want to see me? Does Mommy miss me?" Cooper frowned as he heard his aunt let out a sob. He was confused. Were they happy tears, maybe? When she didn't reply after a few minutes, and just kept on pulling him along with her down the empty halls (it was late in to the night, after all), Cooper said "Please, Aunt Reesa, can you tell me what's going on?"

"Cooper, honey, just be quiet for a minute, okay? This is.. just hang on." Though Cooper heard the break in her voice, he saw no significance behind it.

Teresa all but slammed the door of the room open when they arrived at the one her sister was staying in. She instantly pulled Cooper towards the bed that June was laying on, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.

"Mommy!" Cooper went to jump on the bed to hug his mother, but his aunt held him back.

"Cooper, honey," June began, carrying on when he said a meek 'yeah?', "I... I need you to be a brave boy for me..." she let out a rattling cough, "I need you to look after Blaine – that's your new baby brother – he... he's going to need you. A lot. Just... promise Mommy that you'll do that for me." A look was shared between the sisters before Teresa lifted Cooper on to the bed. "Now, Cooper, honey, Mommy... she loves you a lot, and she needs you to be strong. Will you try your best to do that for me?"

Cooper looked at her through innocent and confused eyes, slowly nodding as his mouth hung open slightly in confusion, "Mommy, what... what's going on? Where's Blaine?"

"I'll get a nurse to take you in a minute to see him, okay? Just know that I love you, and I always will. Always. I'm so proud of you. So, so proud." She pulled him in to a hug, her sob being muffled as she pushed her face in to Cooper's curls that were much like her own, "Okay, I'll see you soon, sweetie. Remember, I love you so much. Be good for me, okay?" She pressed a kiss in to his curls before nodding to a woman in pink scrubs, and she took Cooper's hand and walked him to the newborn unit.

Cooper heard the faint sobs behind him as the nurse held his hand, and lifted him up to see Blaine through the glass. He was in a plastic cot with a blue woollen blanket over him, and his name was on a white board at the foot of the board – Blaine Nicholas Anderson. And next to Blaine's cot was one that homed a baby in a blue blanket also, and on the whiteboard of that cot, it said Kurt Hummel. He smiled as he saw how the two were facing each other, saying to the nurse "They're saying hello to each other.", grinning happily. And then he began to sing to the two of them through the glass (he didn't know that they couldn't hear him), singing the lullaby his mother had sung to him at night when he had had a nightmare. He had yet to learn of what was to come, and that seeing his mother soon would not be like he thought it would. But he had Blaine, and he was sure that Blaine would someday be friends with Kurt. He hoped they would. And in the future, when the two were older, Cooper in fourth grade and Blaine just starting kindergarten, and living with their aunt, Cooper would explain to his brother that he was like Harry Potter whenever he asked about their parents, and that he was born to do extraordinary things, and that his parents were both so proud of him, and he would see them when he needed to, that they would always be with him. Just like Blaine and Kurt would always be friends.

Always.