“I’m sorry, Officer. I don’t know anything about this, but I know you’ve made a mistake when you say the child is mine. There’s no way that’s possible,” Kurt argued.

“From the information we have we believe it’s very possible, Mr. Hummel.”

“Am I going mad here? I really don’t get this. You’re saying I’m not in trouble but apparently you think I’m a father, but that doesn’t make sense why would me being a father be a police matter? Things just don’t add up at the moment.”  Kurt’s voice started to get higher; he was getting deeply frustrated with all this. He was being asked many questions but being given no more answers.

“Mr. Hummel, I understand you’re upset, but please calm down. Before we go any further, would you like to see a picture of the boy?” Sergeant Black looked at Kurt expectantly.

“Alright,but I don’t see how it’s going to help with anything.” Sergeant Black opened the file and pulled out two pictures.

“This one was taken when he was born in May 2013.” He pushed a picture towards the two men. He gave them a while to look at the photo before he slid another one their way. “This one was taken by one of my colleagues the day he and his mother came in.”The photo made them both gasp because the boy had Kurt’s glasz coloured eyes, his pale skin tone and even same hair colour. The only difference was mouth and nose shape.

“Officer, I must admit that he has a similar complexion and eye colour as me, but if I remember rightly his mother is pretty fair skinned herself. I’m still confused as to why you think he would be mine,” Kurt commented, glancing between the picture and Sergeant Black.

“One more question, before I tell you why we believe he is yours. If you are so certain he isn’t yours, will you be willing to do a paternity test? The mother was adamant that you are the father of this child, so we’ve already collected samples from both the mother and child.” At least they’re deciding to do something sensible about all this, Kurt thought.

“If it’s what it takes to get everyone off my back. How long is all this going to take?  I have to be back in New York for work on Monday. I don’t have time to be wasting with this. I work in the fashion industry and I’m afraid it waits for no one.”

“If you do a swab for us now, we are hoping our lab will be able to process it by tomorrow. This is a special case so it’s being given priority,” Sergeant Black explained.

“Why it is such a special case?” Kurt demanded, maybe a bit too forcefully.

“Do the swab now Mr Hummel, then if you still want to know our reasoning you can. Or you can choose to wait until we have the results, then depending on the results either hear our reasoning or not.”

“I think I actually prefer that as an option. Is that okay with you, Blaine?” he asked, trying to face his fiancé. “It just seems very silly going through it all when they’ll realize tomorrow I’m not this child’s father.”

Blaine took hold of Kurt’s hand. “If that’s what you want, I’m happy.”

“Then that’s what I’d like to do, please Sergeant.”

Kurt did the test and left the station feeling even more scared and confused than he had when he had arrived that morning. He would be glad to get back to his old house and just receive a hug from his father.

When they arrived at the Hudson-Hummel house, Burt and Carole were outside waiting for them. True to his intention, Kurt went up and hugged his father.

“Hey--you alright kiddo? I know it’s been a while, but normally we get inside before you try and knock me over.” At that point Blaine came over carrying their suitcasesand looking just as stressed as Kurt felt.

“Blaine, are you alright? You look stressed too. Is it really that bad?” Burt looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Kurt spoke up before Blaine had a chance to respond.  “Dad..... ‘bad’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. Let’s take this inside. I need a strong cup of coffee, and I’m sure Blaine does too. By the way, hi Carole, I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just stressed.”

“Oh, it’s alright Kurt. I’ll go make coffee to give you time to get the suitcase up to your room and settle in. I’m happy to give you and your dad some space. Do you want me to go out for a while?”

“Oh no, Carole. You’re going to want to hear what I have to say. It’s pure craziness,” Kurt offered quickly.

Ten minutes later they all sat in the living room nursing cups of coffee. Burt and Carole were on one sofa, and Kurt and Blaine were on the other. Kurt was nestled in so close to Blaine that if he got any closer, he would have been on his lap. Blaine had one arm around Kurt and his other holding his coffee. Kurt loved the feeling of being close to Blaine, and was glad Blaine had gotten used to showing affection around his family. After all, they never could around Blaine’s family.

“I’m just going to be blunt and say it, the Lima Police Department think I have a son.”

Burt spat out the mouthful of coffee he had just taken. “You what?” Burt demanded.

“They think I have a son. Not just a son, they think I have a three year old son. The child in question happens to be the child of one Sarah Day. Your old best friend, Carole.” Now it was Carole’s turn to almost spit out her coffee.

“They know you’re gay, right kiddo?  I mean, they did meet you today?” Burt inquired. Kurt was glad his dad had long since gotten 100% used to the fact he was gay.

“Oh don’t worry, Burt. I made it perfectly clear Kurt was gay. I have to say I think it is all a stupid mix up. However I’m not happy with the way it’s being handled.” Kurt was so glad he had a man like Blaine by his side. He squeezed Blaine’s knee gently, hoping Blaine understood it was his way of saying thank you.

“No I’m sure you’re not, neither are we,” Carole agreed. She then turned her attention to Kurt. “How exactly do they work out that you could have fathered this child when Sarah went missing four years ago?” she asked questioningly.

“I don’t know.  All the information we found out before they tried to tell me I had a son was that the last time Sarah was seen around here was the day of mine and Finn’s going-away party. Apparently she moved to LA and changed her name, and then came back a few days ago with a son she claims is mine.” Now that he’d had time to think about it,he couldn’t help but wonder if he wasn’t just dreaming all this up.

“This is crazy, Kurt. You just let them get away with accusing you of this rubbish?”Burt said raising his voice.

“No Dad, I was furious.” Kurt sat up to be able to better face his father, hoping he would realize just how annoyed he was with all of this. “They make no sense, they say I’ve not done anything wrong, but they are saying I fathered this child. I really don’t understand how that can be a police matter.  I don’t even get how they think I can be a father. Believe me, I’ve never had the desire to sleep with a woman. The only thing I could think of is that they think I did something inappropriate towards a woman, which I wouldn’t do. They asked me to take a paternity test if I was so sure. So I did and the results should be in tomorrow. They asked me back tomorrow just to set everything straight,” Kurt explained. He didn’t want his dad to think he was just letting them get away with this. He then put his head in his hands; he just wanted to be able to forget about all of this. He tensed for a spilt second as a hand touched his back. However it only took him a fraction of a second to allow himself to melt into the touch, as Blaine started rubbing in soothing circles.

“I knew Sarah disappeared, but I didn’t know it was the night of that party. She had a two week vacation, so everyone just thought she didn’t want to come back after. The staff nurse received a resignation letter a week after she didn’t show up for work. But I don’t understand why she went to LA, changed her name, then came back and decided she would try and say this child was yours. Of all the men in Lima, why you?” Carole seemed to be a lot calmer than his dad.

“Well the weird thing is, he does look a little bit like me. What colour eyes did Sarah have?” Kurt inquired, hoping Carole would remember. The only reason he’d remembered the complexion of her skin was because the dress she wore to his dad and Carole’s wedding just didn’t work with it.

“I don’t actually know, Kurt.  It’s been too long. Why do you ask?”

“Oh it’s just the child has my colour eyes. Obviously if Sarah did too, that would be one thing easily explained.” Burt and Carole shot him a quizzical look so Kurt elaborated. “They showed me a picture of him as a baby, then again the day Sarah appeared at the station. He had my complexion, eye colour and hair colour. But I know Sarah had my complexion, and my hair colour isn’t exactly rare. The only thing it doesn’t explain is the eye colour. She’s probably scared to admit she doesn’t know the father or something, so used me as a scapegoat knowing I had the right hair and eye colour.”

“I must say the boy did look surprisingly like Kurt,” Blaine added. “However I think it’s probably just a coincidence. I mean, don’t a lot of babies and children look similar when they are younger anyway?”

“Babies often do yes, children maybe not so much,” Burt confessed. “What a mess. No wonder you’re stressed. Don’t worry, we’ll get this sorted. Tomorrow when they find out the facts, I’ll make sure you get a proper apology and more for all the stress that’s been caused to you and Blaine.”

“Thank you, Dad. Do you need help with dinner Carole?”

“No sweetie, it’s fine. Why?”

“It’s just been a horrible day and if you don’t need me, I just want a nap and a cuddle with Blaine.” Kurt snuggled back into Blaine. “That’s if he obliges.”

“Of course, darling, come on. You do look pretty awful.”

Once upstairs, Kurt had hoped that the nap would give him some time away from everything that had happened in the past day. However, he had no such luck and instead his dreams were filled with  memories of all the things today’s news may change.

Kurt placed two cups of coffee on the table. They had been saying for a while, since they got engaged, that they needed to have this conversation. But he was still apprehensive ......what if their views on children were different?

“Don’t look so scared, Kurt.” He looked up to see love radiating from Blaine’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, it’s just this is a big conversation and I always want everything to be perfect you know.”

“Oh I know honey, we just have to realise that even if we have different views now, it doesn’t mean we won’t be able to find a middle ground. We didn’t enter this relationship just to get scared away if our views on children are different. Do you want to go first or shall I?”

Kurt knew Blaine was right. They had overcome so much adversity. They were a gay couple from Ohio, which pretty much spoke for itself. He should have known Blaine would be willing to find something that worked for them both.

“I will if you don’t mind.” Kurt waited until he saw Blaine nod before continuing. “I’ve pretty much always known I wanted children. But I was scared, because I knew I liked men before I knew I wanted children. I know that it was only a decade or so ago but even back then things were much worse for gays and I wondered if I would ever have children. When I realised the world was starting to change and gays were more openly accepted in some parts, and were encouraged to have children I let myself dream. I always wondered what it would be like to have my own biological child or children. However I thought about it and wondered if it would be weird having a child that my partner and I were both dads to, the child was only biologically related to one. I think that’s what made me think more about adoption. I mean there are so many children out there who haven’t got parents, why not go down that route instead. That way, both parents are in an equal position with the children, if you know what I mean.  I would never say no to using a surrogate  if that’s what you want but I would like to look into adoption...... assuming you want children,” Kurt stopped speaking then, thinking maybe he’d said too much. Blaine took his hand across the table.

“Thank you for being honest.  I’ll tell you what I’ve always thought about the possibility of having children, then we can discuss from there.” The word ‘discuss’ made Kurt worry that their choices were very different.

“Coming from the family I do Kurt, what I was told family should be is a mother, father and two children. Well I’m afraid being gay already makes it impossible to have my family’s version of a perfect family. However I’ve always wanted children too. I know it will sound strange to bring Cooper into this, but I know some day he will have children. They will be the children that carry on the Anderson line. I mean in a year or so I’m not even going to be an Anderson, I’m going to be a Hummel.”

Kurt couldn’t help but smile at this. He was still shocked that Blaine wanted to take his name fully rather than joining their names together. However he could understand his reasons. Blaine’s family had never accepted him for who he was. Blaine had said on many occasions that he felt much more at home around Kurt’s family than he did his own. He didn’t want Kurt to take the name of a family that didn’t accept them, and he didn’t want to be a big part of that family anymore either.

“Growing up as the son of an Anderson, certain things were always expected of me. I felt inadequate if I couldn’t live up to these expectations, and often I couldn’t. I knew we’d have this talk about children one day, and I’ll be honest, back then I wasn’t even sure what I wanted when it came to children. But I knew if I had children, I did not want them having to live up to the same expectations, and just having the Anderson name would have done that. It was just one of the many reasons I want to become a Hummel. Since then I’ve had time to think about children and I know I want children. But that’s as much as I know.  I think about what Rachel has with her dads. She’s biologically one of theirs but has amazing relationships with both of them. However then I think about what you say she went through in her sophomore year when she found out who she really was and wonder if I could put a child through that. On the other hand, I’ve thought about adopting a child, but I know some people out there are still homophobic.  What if we were to get one of them deciding if we have the right to adopt, and how long and stressful the adoption process would be.So basically what I am trying to say is, I don’t know which I would prefer right now,” Blaine admitted.

Kurt couldn’t help but sigh. “You okay?” Blaine asked questioningly.

“Yes,” Kurt smiled, using his free hand to take hold of Blaine’s free hand so both hands were linked with each other. “I’m just so glad we’re at least on the same page about wanting kids, you know? Do you think you want one or more?”

“More than one,” Blaine said adamantly. “When I realized I wanted kids, I realized I wanted more than one.  With Cooper being so much older, I often felt like an only child and I was lonely. I would love children with not too much of an age gap. But I would understand if you just wanted one.” Kurt noticed Blaine said the last sentence rather quickly as if he was afraid he had over stepped, Kurt intervened to set him straight very swiftly.

“I’ve always wanted children too. I mean until a few years ago I was an only child, me and Finn see each other as brothers now but it’s not the same as growing up with siblings. My dad told me that I wasn’t meant to be an only child. Before my mother got sick, they were planning on having another one. I’ll admit for parts of my childhood I was lonely and I can’t help but think a brother or sister would have helped with that. So yes, I don’t know how many but I’ve always wanted more than one.” Kurt was glad to see that Blaine’s shoulders lowered as he seemed to relax.

“I’m glad we’re having this conversation Kurt, I must admit I was a bit worried about it.”

“Me too babe, me too,” Kurt cooed.

“When?”Blaine asked. Kurt wondered for a minute before he realised what Blaine meant.

“I don’t know for sure. All I know is I want to be settled, married, with a decent house and a good job to allow me to provide for them. I mean childhood is one of the main things that shapes a person so I always wanted to be in the best possible position to give my children the best childhood.”

“You’re definitely right on that, childhood shapes us like no other time in our lives. I say we leave the conversation here. Knowing that on the whole we are on the same page, it gives us time to both think more about what we want. Now that the ice is broken, we can bring up the subject whenever the feeling arises,” Blaine finished.

“You know what, I think you’re right,” Kurt agreed, getting up from his seat and walking over to sit on Blaine’s lap. His arms were quickly around his waist and he rested his head on top of his boyfriend’s, feeling much better than he had at the start of this conversation.

When Kurt woke up for dinner, feeling worse than he had before the nap, he knew it had been restless because of the dreams and could only hope he would sleep better that night.  However he had his doubts. He had so many thoughts and questions running through his head. When they had spoken about children things had been so much easier. Now things just seemed so difficult. Kurt couldn’t help but think about how confusing everything was going to become now. Since that night they had had more conversations about children, and even though nothing was finalised they had spoken in more depth about adoption and were leaning towards that instead of being biological parents. If this boy really was his, which he doubted, would it change the dynamics between him and Blaine? Would Blaine want to rethink the decision to lean towards adoption? Would Blaine even want anything to do with a biological child they had no knowledge of before today? All the questions were giving Kurt a headache. He decided that he couldn’t stress over them and they were questions he would have to bring up with Blaine alone and he couldn’t do that right now. He knew stressing was just going to make him feel even worse than he already did.