Kurt rolled over and ran his hand over the now cold side of the bed that Blaine occupied. Looking up at the clock he saw it was already 8:30am. Kurt was surprised that Claire hadn’t jumped on the bed hours ago to wake him up. He wasn’t that deep of a sleeper so she hadn’t been in already. Today was her 4th birthday.
Lifting himself out of bed, he pulled one of Blaine’s old t-shirts over his fragile figure. He padded out of the bedroom only to be stopped at the end of the hall by a curtain drawn over the doorway.
“Blaine? You’re not surprising me with my parents again because I already know they’re in town. My memory hasn’t gotten that bad” he called out with a laugh as he pulled back the curtain and dropped his jaw at the sight of their apartment.
With pink and purple fabric cascading from the ceiling and giant pink cushions where the couch used to be, their home looked like the perfect princess party room. Their dining table was covered with more sparkly pink material as well as countless bowls of candy, cupcakes, sweets and all of Claire’s favourite party foods. Even the punch Kurt could see Blaine making in the kitchen was pink.
“This is...”
“Exactly what you had planned for Claire’s birthday last year but with the move we just took her to the zoo instead” Blaine smiled as he abandoned the pink punch and made his way over to Kurt “Do you like it? I hope it matches the sketches and swatches in your notebook. I kinda stole it a couple weeks ago”
“It’s incredible, just amazing”
“Do you think Claire will like it?”
“Oh honey, she will love this. You did all this last night?” Kurt asked as he ducked silver stars hanging from the ceiling on his way around the apartment. Blaine had even started setting up a station where all the kids coming for the party later that day could make their own princess crowns. He had managed to recreate everything Kurt had thought of for Claire’s Princess Party.
“I started after you two went to bed and got up early to keep going. Coffee is amazing”
“Have you had any sleep?”
“I will sleep well tonight after our little girl has had the best birthday we could give her” Blaine smiled and rested his hands on Kurt’s hips as he made his way back to him “And I can say ‘our little girl’ legally because my lawyer called and the adoption papers were finalised yesterday afternoon”
Kurt wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s neck and leant in kissing him softly “You’re perfect, you know that right?”
“I try” he laughed jokingly
“This place looks amazing, Blaine. How did you manage all this on your own? Where did you get all the material?”
“The perks of working in a cafe next door to a craft and fabric store. I would pick up something different after every shift. I just followed your very specific and detailed design”
“You succeeded. This is everything I could ever dream of and more. Claire will never forget this birthday” Kurt smiled and kissed his boyfriend once again. Sucking on Kurt’s lower lip, Blaine begged to deepen the kiss. They had happily taken advantage of Kurt’s good health (considering) and even better mood in recent days. Santana was happy to occupy Claire for a couple hours to give them some... time.
“As much” Kurt chuckled as he tried to pull away but Blaine only moved his lips to his neck “As much as I would love to continue because the sex has been so good lately but I can hear Claire in the bathroom”
Blaine groaned softly and slumped his head down onto Kurt’s shoulder. Kissing his shoulder, Blaine stood up with a smile “Could you distract Claire for a minute? My Mom sent my birthday present along with hers and I want to use it” he chuckled and pointed to the brand new SLR camera he’d been given.
“Can you not take any photos of me? Please? Not like this...”
“You’re beautiful ok?” Blaine insisted and cupped Kurt’s face gently “You will always be beautiful to me. We’ll look back on the photos from today and remember a happy day with Claire and we’ll remember how strong you were to beat this cancer”
Kurt took a deep breath and kissed Blaine’s palm with a smile “Alright but if you send those photos to anyone you’re showing me first, got it?”
“Got it”
“And you’re not allowed to use them as our Christmas card because that’s corny and just cruel” Kurt chuckled as he backed toward the pink curtain leading to the bedrooms
“Yes Kurt”
“And Rachel is not to get her hands on them because they will resurface at either of our 21st birthdays if she has anything to do with it”
“Yes Kurt”
“Are you listening to me Blaine?”
“Yes Kurt”
“Are you just saying ‘Yes Kurt’ to shut me up?”
“It’s clearly not working so no?” Blaine smirked and picked up his camera “Do you want me to take photos of you in your pyjamas or are you gonna get dressed?”
“I’m getting dressed. I will get Claire dressed too ok?”
“Ok I’ll see you both in an hour then”
“You. Are. Not. Funny. Mr. Anderson”
“I wasn’t trying to be funny” he laughed and snapped a picture of Kurt quickly “You better hurry before I take more photos”
“Do you want to be sleeping on the couch tonight?” Kurt chuckled and disappeared behind the curtain before Blaine could answer.
Quickly finishing off the punch, Blaine made sure he had his camera ready when Kurt and Claire did emerge. Straightening up everything on the table, he wanted everything to be perfect for his little girl.
Even though he would never tell Kurt, Blaine wanted this birthday to be the best Claire ever had because he was scared it would be the last she’d get with her Papa. He wanted the adoption papers to be finalised quickly so Kurt would always have that no matter what happened. Blaine wanted Claire to remember this day for the rest of her life because next year they might not be so lucky. He didn’t want to think about it but he knew it was always a possibility

XXXXX

“Knock, knock” Rachel laughed as she opened the door and held it for Carole as she carried a large white box into the apartment. Dodging a couple giggling girls, she set the box down in the kitchen and swatted away Kurt’s eager hand.
Claire’s party was in full swing with little girls and boys from her preschool class laughing and playing. All wearing crowns and tiaras they made themselves, they danced around to the music and tried their best to win the game of musical chairs.
Blaine had invited some of the parents to stay as well as some of his old New Directions teammates. The more was definitely merrier. Blaine wanted everyone they loved and cared about there to celebrate Claire’s birthday.
Blaine’s friend from the coffee house was making balloon animals for the kids and they were all very hyped up on sugar, Claire included. The smile on that little girl’s face couldn’t be wiped away; she was having the best time.
“What is it?” Kurt asked as he tried to peek into the box but it was Rachel that was now pushing him away “I want to see”
“You’ll see later” she laughed “Carole and I worked on this all day yesterday and you’re not going to ruin it before Claire sees it”
“I won’t ruin it...”
“No”
“Please...”
“Ooh is this the cake? I can’t wait to see how it turned out” Blaine smiled as he walked into the kitchen to refresh some of the candy bowls
“You know what it looks like?” Kurt gasped. As much as he loved Blaine for following his directions, he hated that he kept so much from him regarding this party especially the cake. The cake was the only thing Kurt didn’t end up deciding on.
“You will love it. I promise”
“I want to see it”

XXXXX

“Look what my Daddy and Papa gave me” Claire giggled as she showed her best friend Lilly the Princess Barbie she’d been given for her birthday. Amongst the clothes, hair clips and other toys, this Barbie was definitely her favourite. Watching the balloon animals being made, the pair had been inseparable all afternoon.
“She’s pretty” Lilly smiled “Which one is your Daddy? My Mommy is over there” the blonde little girl giggled and pointed to her Mom who was talking to Blaine by the food table. Blaine and Kurt got along with a lot of the parents from Claire’s preschool class but the pair was just so much younger. At nearly 20, the boys were at least 8 or 9 years younger than a lot of the other parents.
“Daddy and Papa are over there too” the brunette smiled and looked to where Lilly had pointed before seeing Kurt join Blaine with her Mom “Papa is the one with the hat”
“Why does he look funny?”
“He doesn’t look funny”
“He does too look funny. He’s all skinny and he has no hair”
“So? Daddy says my Papa is sick. He says he’s got cancer” Claire shrugged pleased that she remembered what her father had told her. Blaine had managed to sugar coat Kurt’s cancer quite well until Claire started to ask more detailed questions a few weeks before her birthday. She started to ask why. Why did Papa look so different? Why was Papa always sick after he came home from the hospital when hospitals are meant to make you better? Why isn’t Papa getting any better?
He told her that Kurt had a disease called cancer and that’s what was making him so sick, that he was getting special medicine at the hospital that was making him feel yuck but it will help him in the long run. It was a difficult conversation but Claire was a smart little girl and Blaine knew he would have to tell her sooner or later.
“Mommy said my Grandpa had cancer but he died. Is your Papa gonna die too?” Lilly asked with a shrug of her shoulders. She didn’t quite understand how her grandfather passed away; she just understood that cancer played a major part in his death. Claire heard Lilly’s question as ‘Your Papa has cancer so he is going to die’ and burst into tears. She forgot about her Barbie and raced over to where her fathers were standing. Kurt noticed her coming and caught her in his arms just as she got to him.
“Hey baby girl, what’s the matter” he cooed softly as he held her tight to his chest. The one thing a little girl shouldn’t be doing on her birthday is crying “What’s wrong?”
Claire buried her face in Kurt’s shirt and sobbed. It wasn’t until Kurt rubbed her back like he did when she was sick that she started to calm down. Sitting down on a nearby chair, he sat her on his lap and wiped away her tears with his thumbs
“Talk to me honey bear, why the tears?”
Blaine watched on carefully worried about his little girl. He hated seeing her like this no matter what had caused it. Blaine was good at calming Claire down but Kurt had a magic power especially when he rubbed their little girl’s back.
“Lilly...” she sniffed and looked up at Kurt, her eyes glistening with tears “Are you gonna die Papa?”
Kurt was shocked at the question and wasn’t quite sure how to answer it. Looking up at Blaine, he hoped for a little guidance. He knew Blaine had told Claire about his cancer and knew how to answer their daughter if she asked about his disease. Neither of the boys thought about how they would answer this. Blaine had purposely steered clear of the ‘Papa could die’ conversation until it was absolutely necessary.
“I...” Kurt began before taking a deep breath “Claire Bear, I am sick. What I have is very bad but I’m trying very hard to get better. I’m not going anywhere any time soon ok?” he smiled and kissed her forehead softly. Lingering there for a moment, Kurt sat back and ran his hands through his daughter’s curls “I love you too much to die, not gonna happen ok?” he chuckled
“I love you too Papa”
“Now, no more tears ok? The birthday girl can’t be sad when her Grandma Carole and Aunt Rachel made the world’s best birthday cake. How about we go blow out your candles?”
“Stay with me Papa?”
“Always, baby” he smiled and kissed her temple softly. Pulling her up into his arms, he stood and faced Blaine “I’m not going anywhere soon am I?”
“Not if I can help it” Blaine smiled and kissed Kurt’s cheek softly before turning to Claire “Is it ok if we keep Papa forever? He makes the best cupcakes in the whole wide world remember?”
“Ok” the four year old giggled and hugged Kurt tighter
“Shall we cut the cake?”
Kurt carried Claire over to the table where Carole and Rachel were putting the candles into the four year old’s Princess Castle Cake. Completely pink, the cake was two tiers high and had all the turrets, doors and flowering vines that the perfect castle needed. Kurt was astounded at the detail of that cake and didn’t know where to begin thanking his step mother and future sister-in-law for their hard work. Claire was definitely a spoilt little girl.
“Carole, Rachel this is exquisite. Absolutely amazing” Kurt smiled as everyone started to gather around the cake. Blaine had his camera in his hands already taking photos of Claire with her Papa.
“Anything for our favourite girl” Carole smiled. Her happiness was brought on by the ear to ear smile on her granddaughters face at the sight of her cake. Lighting the candles on the cake, Carole stepped back with Burt and joined in as everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Claire.
“Make a wish baby girl”
Claire closed her eyes tight and thought very hard about what she would wish for. She thought about toys and teddy bears until she remembered the one wish she desperately wanted. Opening her eyes she took in a deep breath and blew out all four of her candles in one go.
Kurt held her hand as they cut through the first layer and everyone gathered cheered for the giggling little girl. Taking the knife, Carole started to cut up the cake and serve it out to everyone.
“Can I tell you what I wished for Papa?” Claire asked as Kurt sat down with her at the table and they both took a bite of the chocolate mud cake.
“You have to keep your wish a secret or it won’t come true” he smiled. Claire nodded in understanding. She wanted her wish to come true more than anything in the world so she was going to keep her little mouth shut. It wasn’t the usual wish someone of her age would want, this was special.