Kurt walked into the dark apartment and quietly shut the door behind him. Almost 1am, he was just getting home from performing in the Broadway revival of South Pacific. He had a few speaking parts in the musical but he hadn't scored a lead role just yet. Kurt had lead roles in off Broadway productions but being on Broadway was the dream and he'd stick out the chorus roles til he got there.
Dropping his bag down on the kitchen bench, he smiled and picked up the note left for him 'There's leftover spaghetti in the fridge for you if you're hungry. Love B & C'. Written in a very careful cursive font, Kurt knew Claire was practicing her writing for class. Her teacher Miss Gibson had challenged them all to practice their cursive writing with the incentive of candy if they managed to get it neat.
Not really feeling that hungry, Kurt made his way toward his bedroom only to be stopped by a light on in the spare bedroom. Stopping at the doorway he was blown away by what his husband and daughter had been up to all day. Looking around the room, Kurt marvelled at the jungle scene painted across the walls.
With a pale blue sky and bright green grass, there were cartoon lions, zebra, monkeys and giraffes poking their heads out from behind the bushes. There was a bright yellow sun and fluffy white clouds painted on the walls over the cartoon butterflies and beautiful hand painted flowers. Judging by the amount of paint that covered Blaine and Claire, Kurt knew they'd had fun painting the bedroom.
"This is amazing" Kurt gasped and noticed something new every time he turned his head "I can't believe you did all this. It's incredible"
"I just painted the base, Claire did all the detail" Blaine smiled as he put down his paintbrush and made his way over to Kurt. Wrapping his arm around his husband's waist, he placed a soft kiss on his temple "We have a very talented daughter you know"
"I knew she was talented but this is artistically gifted"
"We might have to look into sending her to an arts high school"
"Really?" the ten year old giggled as she finished off the bright orange caterpillar by the window. Skipping over to her Dad's, she wiggled in between them and admired the work she and Blaine had done "Do you think Fletcher will like it?"
"He's going to love it" Kurt smiled and kissed his daughter's head softly.
It had been a week since their meeting with Lindsay and Daniel about adopting their unborn son. Loving them from the very first moment, the eighteen year old parents chose Kurt and Blaine before their meeting was even over. Lindsay fell in love with their story of raising their own daughter so young and overcoming cancer. She couldn't think of a better family to raise her son or a better sister in Claire to look after him.

XXXXX

Each day brought a new addition to Fletcher's bedroom whether it was the crib or the changing table or even some of Claire's teddy bear collection that she was happily handing down to her baby brother. Rachel sadly couldn't hand much of Isabel's baby things down to Fletcher because what self respecting boy wore pink? It gave her and Quinn the perfect opportunity to go shopping. Kurt definitely didn't argue when he went with them because he too fell in love with every cute onesie or blanket. He couldn't resist when with Claire and he definitely couldn't resist with Fletcher.
Blaine sat on the floor of Fletcher's bedroom and stared at the instructions for the crib Kurt had picked out. With half of it in German, Blaine flipped the paper around a few times hoping to figure out which way was right. Sighing loudly, he couldn't remember Claire's crib being this hard to construct but hers was from good will and not quite as fancy as this.
Just as Blaine picked up his phone to send a complaining message to his husband, his phone started to ring. Looking down at the caller ID, it was Lindsay calling.
"Hey Lindsay, is everything ok?"
"The baby, he's coming now. Come to the hospital"
"We're on our way"
Ignoring the fact that his son was soon coming home to a crib that wasn't built yet, Blaine jumped up and grabbed his jacket as he flew out of the apartment. Calling Kurt who was at rehearsals, Blaine had to stop and breathe to be able to tell him the good news. Kurt told him he'd meet him at the hospital if Blaine picked Claire up on his way there. She had to be there for this, Kurt promised.
Blaine called ahead to the school to let them know he'd be taking Claire out early but he didn't want them to tell her. He wanted to surprise her. The baby was 8 days early so this would definitely be a surprise for the ten year old.
Knocking on her classroom door, Blaine smiled back at a beaming Miss Gibson as the slender blonde woman answered the door.
"Claire could you please collect all your things, your father is here" she smiled as Blaine stepped into the room. Turning to him, she couldn't help but grin with excitement "I got the principal's message. Claire has been so excited for this day to come. I'm so happy for you"
"Thank you. Did Claire show you the painting she did for the bedroom?"
"Yes and it is gorgeous. She's a gifted artist"
"What's wrong?" Claire chuckled as she skipped up to her father. Realising why her Dad was here, she gasped "Fletcher?"
Blaine nodded with a smile which caused his daughter to squeal happily. Dragging her father from the room, she couldn't get to the car fast enough. Driving as quickly as he could, Blaine laughed at his daughter's ecstatic rambling about how great it's going to be to have a little brother.
Racing up to the maternity ward of the hospital, Blaine and Claire found Kurt already there waiting nervously for them.
"They've just taken Lindsay to the delivery room. She mistook contractions for stomach pains until they became more frequent and intense" Kurt relayed to them as he pulled Blaine into a tight hug "She was taking a shower so she didn't realise her water had broken"
"Does that mean he'll be here soon?" Claire asked
"That's exactly what it means"
"Now I'm nervous" Kurt laughed as he sat down as Claire sat on one side and Blaine on the other. All they could do now was wait for the nurse to let them see their son.
"There's nothing to be nervous about"
"Easy for you to say, you've done the whole baby thing before. I missed the first 15 months with this one" he chuckled and wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulders
"They were such a blur I missed them too" Blaine laughed and rested his hand on Kurt's knee "Everything will be fine. It has to be easier ten years later with an extra set of hands"
"Don't forget about me" Claire smiled weakly and moved over to sit on Blaine's lap
"How could we ever forget about you?" Blaine smiled and held her close. No matter how big she got, he always loved cuddling with Claire like this. It reminded him of all the times he held her as a baby and her sweet scent and soft hand on his cheek calmed him better than anything else. Blaine was so proud of Claire and the beautiful young woman she'd grown into "Now I know your Papa will agree with me when I say that we will always love you to the moon and back and a thousand times over" he insisted and kissed her cheek softly "You, my beautiful girl, came to me when I was only 15 years old. I can't imagine my life without you and that gorgeous smile. You will always be the first and only girl I fell in love with"
Blaine hugged his daughter tight and kissed her forehead gently. He would have been a very different and a much less fortunate man if it wasn't for the little girl in his arms. He wouldn't be a happily married man with a beautiful family if Anna hadn't dropped Claire at his door ten years ago. He had his daughter to thank for his life.
"Kurt and Blaine Anderson?" a nurse called from the doorway "Would you like to meet your son?"
Gasping softly, Kurt took Blaine's hand and squeezed it tight. This was the moment they'd all been waiting for. Kurt and Blaine had wanted to expand their little family for quite a few years now but the time hadn't felt right. They both wanted to finish college and get settled in their careers before they put their thoughts into action. Both wanted to wait til they were a little older but Blaine thought of Claire more than himself. He wanted her to be happy and settled before they thought about another child. He would never tell Kurt this but he also wanted to hold onto his little girl for as long as he could. She had been such a big part of his life for so long that he didn't want to share her with a little brother or sister just yet.
Kurt and Blaine were lucky; they both had great jobs that provided a lot for the family as well as an amazing daughter. They had a perfect life now but both knew that another child would just add to their happiness.
Following the nurse through to an exam room, the young family were anxious and excited to see their little boy. The baby was awake but calm probably taking in everything about this new environment he lived in. Taken from the delivery room as soon as he was born, Lindsay didn't want to hold her baby in case she got attached. She and Daniel had made the decision months ago that they couldn't handle a baby right at that moment and adoption was the right thing to do. She loved her son but she knew he'd be better off with a family who could take care of him.
The nurse picked up the baby and turned to Kurt who was closest to her. She waited for him to hold his arms in a cradle before gently placing the boy in his arms.
"He's beautiful" Kurt gasped concentrating so hard on not moving that baby too much. Taking in everything about this little boy, Kurt couldn't believe how lucky he was. Looking up at Blaine and Claire, he really couldn't believe how blessed he was.
"Have you thought of a name yet?" the nurse asked as she started to fill out the birth certificate "You can take all the time you need if you're not sure"
"No we have a name" Blaine smiled and leant down kissing the baby's forehead gently before looking to Claire and taking her hand "Fletcher James Anderson-Hummel"

XXXXX

"Are you the big sister?" a young nurse asked as he came up beside Claire who had been staring through the nursery window at her baby brother for the last twenty minutes. Fletcher was tiny, pink, squishy and hers. Pointing to the bassinet containing a sleeping baby boy with a sign that said 'Baby Boy Fletcher', Claire told the nurse that he was her little brother.
"Ah yes, I remember you, Claire right?. Your Dad's are adopting him aren't they?"
"Yeah"
"I know you got to hold him when he was born but would you like to again? Spend some time with him?"
"Can I?" she gasped excitedly as the nurse nodded and made his way to the door of the nursery. Following him into the nursery quietly, she looked around at all the sleeping babies in awe. They were all so cute but she was a little biased toward Fletcher.
"Why don't you take a seat there on one of the armchairs and I'll bring him over" he smiled and waited for Claire to sit down, picking the armchair that faced away from the door. Laying a thin pillow over her lap, the nurse then picked up Fletcher and put him gently in her arms. Making sure she was holding him right, he watched her for a minute before he was confident she'd be ok with him.
"Hey Fletcher" Claire smiled down at her snoozing little brother "I'm Claire, your big sister" she giggled as she felt Fletcher move slightly in her arms so he was comfortable "I think you're gonna like it at home, we've painted your room and everything. Dad and I painted jungle animals all over the place, they're not scary though. They're cute"
Blaine walked past the nursery window looking for Claire only to see her on the other side holding her brother. Watching her for a minute, he couldn't help but smile at how cute she was with Fletcher in her arms. Nothing made him more proud than to see Claire with him. Making his way around to the door, he walked in quietly. The nurse put his finger to his lips as if to tell Blaine to stay quiet. Standing by the door, they both watched Claire talk to her little brother.
"We have two Dads y'know well one is Daddy and the other is Papa. It's not like a normal family but I like it better that way. We're different. Papa sings and dances on Broadway and Daddy draws up big skyscrapers and all those fancy sort of buildings"
"You and I have to stick together y'know" the ten year old smiled weakly "Because we don't have Moms like a lot of other kids. I love having two Dads but I don't know what it's like to have a Mom I can't tell you what we're missing. I don't think we're missing anything. I wouldn't give up our Dads for anything"
Blaine stepped forward to let Claire know he was there but the nurse held him back knowing Claire wasn't quite finished talking to Fletcher.
"Your Mom loves you just like mine loves me" Claire nodded with a smile "Papa said that they love us so much that they had to go away. I don't know if he's right but it doesn't matter. We've got Dad and Papa and Tanna, you'll like Tanna" she giggled "We've got the best family and you've got me now too. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you ok? I'll be the protective big sister ok?"
Both Blaine and the nurse sniffed back tears as Claire finished what she wanted to say. Turning slowly in the chair so she wouldn't wake her brother, Claire saw her Dad by the door with red, puffy eyes.
"Are you ok Daddy?"
"I'm fine Princess"