“Is this my surprise?” Kurt giggled softly as Burt, Carole, Finn and Rachel all turned their attention to Blaine.
“Yes this is your surprise, it’s a surprise for Claire too” Blaine smiled and pulled an envelope from his pocket and laid it down on the table “I was going to wait for Claire’s birthday but I got the papers yesterday and our family is here right now. I want you all to share in this event”
“We’re missing your family Blaine...” Carole observed softly. If this was important shouldn’t his parents and siblings be there too?
“My family actually already know about this. My Mom was the driving force behind it. I would never have been successful without her”
“Blaine, tell us” Rachel cried softly excited to know what was in the envelope. Blaine handed the envelope to Kurt with a smile and insisted he opened it. “What is it? What is it?” Rachel asked as she bounced anxiously in her seat.
“They’re adoption papers” Kurt smiled softly and looked to Blaine
“It took me almost a year to get Annabelle to agree to it. I know she signed away any rights to Claire a week after she was born but I wanted her to be ok with Kurt legally becoming Claire’s father. She’s still her Mother”
“You’ve been planning this for a year?” Kurt gasped as he ran his fingers over the words ‘Kurt Hummel – Father’ on the paper in his hands.
“I could have applied for the papers the second we moved to New York but I wanted to talk to Annabelle first. I’ve never asked her for anything regarding Claire so I had hoped asking her for this would be easy”
“It wasn’t easy was it?”
“Why did it take her a year to agree to it?” Carole asked curiously. She couldn’t be happier for Kurt, Blaine and Claire; they were the perfect little family, which is why she couldn’t comprehend Annabelle’s hesitation.
“Annabelle is a little homophobic. She was never a big fan of me being gay let alone Claire having two gay fathers” Blaine sighed softly and took Kurt’s hand gently “My Mom went up to Cincinnati to see her and convinced her that Claire’s never been happier. She told Annabelle that Kurt was the best thing to ever happen to Claire and I and I couldn’t agree more. I asked Annabelle’s permission out of courtesy, she never had to agree to this for me to apply for the adoption papers”
“But you were being a gentleman” Rachel smiled
“I wanted it to be right” he smiled and turned to Kurt “You’ve been Claire’s father since the day she called you Papa. I just want to make it official”
Kurt leant into Blaine’s side still staring at the papers. He couldn’t believe that Blaine had done this for him. Kurt had loved Claire from the day he first saw her but he’d never really felt like her father, that was Blaine’s job. Now that little girl legally had two fathers even though she’s loved two fathers for a long time.
“And you thought I was going to propose again didn’t you?” Blaine laughed and kissed Kurt’s temple
“I never thought it would be this. Thank you” Kurt smiled
“Oh congratulations, Kurt” Carole gasped and got up off her seat to hug her step son. Burt and Finn got up also to congratulate Kurt. They all knew Kurt was Claire’s Dad but it was nice to see Blaine make it legal.
“Hang on, you’ve already proposed? I thought we had a whole, big romantic gesture planned?”
“You can help plan the wedding” Kurt chuckled regretting that sentence the second he’d said it. Having Rachel help him plan a wedding may turn into a nightmare.
“And when is this wedding going to happen?” Burt asked curiously. He knew his son was going to get married to Blaine but he never thought it would be so soon.
“When all my hair grows back, I’m not getting married bald” the sick teenager laughed “The look works for you Dad but I don’t think it really suits me”
“Makes you look kinda badass” Finn laughed and nudged his brother gently “Kinda like Puck used to back in high school”
“Thanks Finn”
“Makes you look more like your father” Carole smiled “Not that it’s a bad thing of course”
“Please let my hair grow back soon” Kurt laughed. Knowing it was just a side effect of the chemo, Kurt still hated not having hair. Bald wasn’t his favourite look.
The waitress came back with their orders and sat a plate down in front of each of them. Setting Claire back down in her seat, Blaine cut up her spaghetti a little before she started to eat.
“Are you feeling alright?” Blaine asked Kurt softly as he noticed his boyfriend still looking at the adoption papers “Do you want to head home?”
“No I’m ok just... I still can’t believe you did this. You don’t understand how incredibly touched I am knowing you want Claire to be legally mine. We aren’t even married yet”
“I keep telling you that’s just a technicality. You want to be healthy for our wedding and I’m happy to wait til you are. I couldn’t wait to make this adoption happen”
“I love you, Blaine”
“I love you too, always” Blaine smiled and pressed a soft kiss to his boyfriend’s lips “Your lasagne is getting cold”
The Hummel-Hudson-Berry-Anderson family shared a nice meal together full of Claire’s preschool stories and Rachel’s continued ranting about her new rival Lauren Rafter. Talk of Kurt’s cancer and treatment was kept to a minimum in the hope to keep a positive atmosphere. Burt and his son had all but exhausted the topic earlier that day so neither wanted to continue the conversation. It just made Burt so sad to see his son battle the same thing his wife did more than ten years ago.
“I think Claire is calling it a night” Finn laughed as he noticed his niece lean into Blaine’s side and slowly drift off to sleep. Just managing to get through dessert without her eyelids drooping, the nearly four year old couldn’t hold out anymore.
“I’m with her” Kurt chuckled as he attempted to suppress a yawn. Looking down at his watch he noticed it was only 9:30pm. For him this was a late night so he was proud he’d managed to stay awake this long.
“You better get your two to bed, Blaine” Burt laughed as everyone started to get up from the table. He tried to stop Blaine from chipping in for dinner but wasn’t very successful.
“We asked you guys out for dinner at least let me pay” Blaine insisted as he pulled a sleeping Claire into his arms. Busying himself with Claire and Kurt, Blaine gave Burt no opportunity to fight him on the matter.
“Will you boys be alright getting home?” Carole asked concerned as they all made their way out of the restaurant “We can come back with you guys before going to Finn and Rachel’s”
“It’s fine, it’s not far” Kurt smiled
“Alright then, we’ll see you in the morning. Good luck for your exam Blaine if we don’t see you beforehand”
“Thank you”
Kurt wrapped his arm around Blaine’s waist as they started the short journey back to their apartment. It was a warm night out so they took it a little slower than normal.
“When is the next time you can change back to full time study at school?” Kurt asked as he broke their comfortable silence.
“After the summer break in September I guess, I’m not going back to full time until you’re in remission. I thought we already discussed this”
“We did but if this chemo works it’ll be too late to change”
“Then I’ll wait” Blaine insisted and stopped Kurt on the sidewalk “Why the persistence for me to go back to school?”
“Will you just think about it over the summer? You seem happy when you’re focusing on your work. I couldn’t wipe the smile off your face when you got full marks on that presentation of yours”
“That wasn’t happiness that was relief” he chuckled
“Think about it?”
“I’ll think about it but I will make you a deal now, if you have to have another round of chemo then the topic of full time school is off limits til you’re in remission. Ok?”
“Deal”