May 28, 2013, 8:55 p.m.
Daddies Dearest: Chapter 6
E - Words: 3,865 - Last Updated: May 28, 2013 Story: Complete - Chapters: 15/15 - Created: May 04, 2013 - Updated: May 28, 2013 160 0 0 0 0
"Alright everyone! Get closer together... just like that... say cheese!"
The camera flashed a few times in a matter of nanoseconds. Kurt and Blaine had Julie held between them, and their parents and brothers were on either side of them. They were in the court lobby, where the Anderson family lawyer was finalizing the petition for adoption which meant that they would be able to take Julie home with them that day. After the wedding both sets of parents had stayed behind and help them set up the apartment for little Julie's move-in with them. Now they were staying so they could all spend some time with the new family.
Julie let out a little whine and Kurt immediately held her closely and rocked her in spot, "Oh sweetie.. just a camera flash. Better get used to those..."
Blaine chuckled and went over to look at the pictures in the viewscreen. Rachel had taken them and was looking through them now, assessing their quality.
Julie meanwhile cooed up at Kurt, her little face having come to know his, and smiling in response to seeing him. It made Kurt feel like everything was perfect in the world, and his heart melted each and every time she did it. Burt leaned his head over Kurt's shoulder to look down at Julie, "She's such a sweetie..."
Kurt nodded in agreement, though it really went without saying. The petition to the court was really just a formality at this point. They were celebrating being able to go home with her. Once the lawyer gave them the okay, they were off to a special brunch where everyone would once again be on the baby timer for holding Julie before the boys took her home.
"You know I was real worried about this all Kurt... but she looks good on you boys, and I know you'll do well by her." Burt spoke softly.
Kurt smiled and looked to his father, "Only because I had the very best role model for being a dad."
Burt beamed and patted his son on the back before they went back to looking down at Julie and repeating the nonsensical babbles she spoke. The Anderson family was all talking amongst themselves, while Carole, Finn, Rachel, and Blaine were going through the pictures, deciding on which one they'd be sending out with their adoption announcement.
After another ten minutes, the Anderson family lawyer came out and gave the thumbs up to the crowd. Kurt grinned and watched as Blaine and his father went to speak to the lawyer and get the final paperwork sorted out. He then looked back to Julie and whispered, "Looks like you're stuck with us now!"
Kurt and Blaine had to fight off their families from joining them when they went back to their apartment. They needed the time right now to be a family and be alone with Julie. Plus there just wasn't enough room. They had given up the loveseat to make room for a crib as it was, and all the wedding presents had filled up any and all nooks and crannies. In fact, they were still getting presents sent to them from friends and relatives who hadn't been able to attend the wedding due the short notice. Trent, for example, had sent them, of all things, matching engraved harmonicas as he was busy overseas and hadn't been able to come.
As Kurt walked over the threshold of their cozy home, carrying Julie in his arms, his breath caught and he stopped once he was in the entryway. "Oh wow Blaine... this is real."
Blaine chuckled and closed the door behind him, kicking off his shoes before coming to Kurt's side. "Don't tell me you're just now figuring that out."
"Well... In my head I've known... it just struck my heart. If that makes any sense."
Blaine pressed a kiss to Kurt's forehead and reached out to take Julie so Kurt could get his own intricately laced up boots off. "Come on my little Julie-bean. Let's show you around your digs."
Kurt chuckled and went about loosening his boots. In the past week they had come up with an inordinate number of nicknames for Julie, with Blaine particularly liking Julie-bean, and Kurt thinking Jules was best. It seemed that she was going to have to learn to respond to a variety of names given all the terms of endearment the family had come up with for her.
"Kurt! She's officially christened the apartment!" Blaine called out from the bedroom and it took Kurt a second to realize he meant that Julie had soiled her first diaper inside their home. He laughed and went to join Blaine in changing the diaper on the change table they had set up beside their dresser. Blaine doing the changing while Kurt made faces at Julie to entertain her through the process.
Julie rewarded Kurt's face with a squeal and another big toothless grin, and Blaine handed Julie over to him once he was done changing her. "Somehow I think if I try and take her now I'm going to be dealing with a sulking husband."
Kurt greedily took Julie in his arms and beamed, "You would think right!" He looked at Julie, and bounced her gently in his arms, "Hello little miss Julie Elizabeth Hummel-Anderson. How do you like your new home so far?"
Another squeal and Kurt laughed back to her, carrying her into the living room with Blaine on his heels. They all sat together on the couch, snuggling together as a family, and Kurt felt entirely too happy with his life in that moment.
Over the next few weeks, that happiness subsided in favour of exhaustion. At night, things were much less happy than they had been in the beginning. Julie was nowhere near sleeping through the night, and woke several times throughout, announcing her state with loud cries and wails. Rachel had tried to cheer them up about this citing that babies who had a hard time sleeping through the night were often smarter than babies who easily slept. Kurt would have been happy to have an average intelligence child at this point if it meant he could have a decent nights sleep. Since they had brought her home, they had limited sleep, and almost no sex life, and it was still summer break. When classes started up again, they would definitely be in trouble if this kept up.
A little cry began in the living room and Kurt grumbled and nudged Blaine with his feet, "Your turn...."
Blaine responded with an equal amount of grunting, but to his credit, got up and went to check on Julie.
Kurt could hear Blaine singing softly to Julie and pacing the living room with her. He smiled in his half-awake state. Blaine was a good dad, doing what needed to be done and making sure Kurt didn't get overly freaked out about minor things as they happened. He had definitely turned out to be the more solid of the two.
Kurt dozed off at some point, and when he woke back up he felt warmth by him. He turned over, expecting Blaine to be cuddled up to him, but instead finding Julie sandwiched between him and Blaine, sleeping soundly. At some point Blaine must have brought her to bed with them.
Kurt smiled and snuggled the little girl, gently rubbing her belly as she slept. Eventually he fell asleep again, waking up again in the morning feeling refreshed for once as Julie had managed to sleep through the rest of the night without a peep.
Kurt caught Blaine watching her sleep when he awoke, and the boys smiled at one another.
"We're not going to be spoiling her if we let her sleep with us are we...?" Blaine asked.
Kurt looked down at the little body between them, "Well.. if she's able to sleep through the night by being with us, it's not really spoiling is it? It would be good for her."
They were both making excuses now to ensure they got the sleep they desired, even if it meant sharing their bed. Both of their eyes were on her throughout the conversation, where they decided to keep putting her to bed in her crib and then bring her to their bed if necessary.
Blaine yawned then and pushed himself out of bed, "We need to get our course schedules sorted out today..."
Kurt nodded. In order for them to not have to worry about child care, they would need to stagger their classes, so one of them was always with Julie. It meant they wouldn't get to have classes with each other anymore, but they didn't even have to talk about that sacrifice to know it was necessary. They had a meeting with the academic counselor at NYADA today, who would be helping them make their schedule.
The bank account that they had inherited with Julie was still untouched. They had agreed to let it sit and collect interest until they really needed it. Neither one of them wanted to dip into it yet for child care, when they both felt so strongly about being there to take care of her in this early stage of their family.
Blaine was in the shower when Julie woke up and whimpered softly, probably needing a change. The nursemaid at the center was right, Kurt had gotten good at changing diapers with practice. He scooped up Julie and brought her to the change table, rapidly changing her and putting a new outfit on her. He loved dressing her up. She was the perfect doll.
Blaine came out of the bathroom just as Kurt was putting on her socks. "I'll feed her. You shower now."
Kurt nodded and held Julie out to Blaine, who was just wearing his boxer-briefs. A couple months ago, the sight of Blaine beaded with water, hair left undone, and dressed in so little would have made Kurt's knees turn to jelly. After Julie, he didn't even make note of it, venturing to the bathroom to get himself ready for the day.
Kurt had also been able to decrease the time it took him everyday to get ready. It simply wasn't feasible to spend forever getting himself in the perfect outfit when he really just needed his clothing to be functional in order to take care of Julie. His colleagues at Vogue.com had made note of this and instead of critisizing him, had actually gotten excited talking about fashionable options for busy parents. He had let out a few sighs of relief when that happened.
When the family was all ready and Kurt had double checked the diaper bag, Julie was secured in her stroller and they set off, travelling the subway to NYADA. They had gotten accustomed to the looks they received, both warm and curious, from strangers who saw them with Julie. On a few occasions already, older ladies had stopped them to note how adorable the baby was, and asked all the basic questions about how old she was, if she slept through the night, and if they were acclimatizing to parenthood. (5 months, No, Depended on the day)
Blaine held the NYADA front door open for Kurt, who pushed the carriage in and led the way to the academic counselling area. Students waiting for their own appointments peered curiously at the two men and the infant, and Kurt tensed up, feeling defensive in that moment. He knew that he and Blaine would likely be the only parents registered in NYADA. It wasn't unheard of in other colleges and universities to have young parents as students, or mature students with children who'd returned to post-secondary education. Here in NYADA however, the clientele was all young, and all too ambitious to entertain the thought of parenthood. They would be in a truly unique situation, and Rachel had even questioned their dedication to becoming performers after Julie came around, citing that a child would undoubtedly limit their ability to focus.
For Kurt, there was no question. He knew he could always fall back on fashion and Isabelle would be happy to have him at Vogue full time, but his heart was in the theatre. Blaine had mentioned that if things didn't work out at NYADA, he would look into one of several options at NYU, but for now was happy to crush Rachel's idea that they would be less successful as students because of Julie.
"If anything, we now have a bigger reason to do well." Blaine had said, referring to being the role models and breadwinners they needed to be to take care of Julie.
"Kurt and Blaine Hummel-Anderson?" The secretary piped up, looking over the edge of her desk. The students who had been looking before were now arching eyebrows as they heard that not only were the pair parents, but married too. Kurt made a shrug of his shoulders to no one in particular, but a reaction to the looks.
"We're here." Blaine spoke for them and the secretary indicated that the counselor down the hall was ready to see them. Kurt continued to push the carriage while Blaine led the way down the hall and held open the door for Kurt.
"Good day boys, and little girl. My the students at this school just keep getting younger!" The counselor was an older man, with a trimmed grey beard and wearing last year's colors. Still, he was friendly enough and took a moment to make baby talk with Julie who giggled from her seat in the stroller.
Blaine sat down and once the counselor, Mr. Fredrick Magna according to the nameplate on his desk, went to his own seat, Kurt unsnapped Julie from her seat and took her into his lap.
"Well boys. I checked your requests and the good news is that we can certainly make a schedule work for you and your little bundle of joy."
Both Kurt and Blaine grinned at one another and then Blaine prompted, "And the bad news?"
"Not really bad news, just different. To make it work, you'll alternate school days, which means that your days will be much longer to fit in all the courses you need to take. One of your will do Monday-Wednesday-Fridays from nine to three, and the other will have to take Tuesdays and Thursdays from eight to five. Both of those schedules include one mid-day break."
Kurt pursed his lips, thinking about that. On the one hand it meant they wouldn't have to worry about taking Julie everyday by subway to switch off, on the other, long days in school, especially NYADA where there was so much participation in the classes, would be extra challenging. He wondered what it would be like during mid-terms and finals if all their courses ended up scheduling tests the same day.
Blaine nodded and smiled over to Kurt, "I think that's not bad as far as the news goes."
"Did you know that you'd be able to get some subsidies too given your situation?" Fredrick asked.
Blaine and Kurt both perked up at that and inclined their heads to Fredrick who continued once he saw that he had their interests piqued.
"Certain scholarships and bursaries have gone untouched here at NYADA simply because we haven't had students fit the criteria for them. Now you two, you're parents, you're married, you're part of a minority group - you could effectively end up not worrying about tuition with these opportunities."
"So how do we take advantage of that?" Blaine asked. Kurt bounced Julie a little on his knee as he could tell she was getting restless and wanted to be in motion from her attempts to reach out and grab at everything around.
Fredrick turned to his computer, "They all have forms. I'll print them all out for you."
Kurt chuckled and Blaine groaned. When Fredrick looked over at their responses with confusion in his face, Kurt explained, "With the adoption, we had our fill of forms. Don't worry. We're pros now at signing our names."
Fredrick chuckled and nodded, grabbing a stack of papers as they came off the printer. "Now please actually apply for all these or they'll just keep on sitting there. I also printed the schedules. They're on the top of the heap. Kurt will do the Monday-Wednesday-Friday because he already has a couple of the more common courses out of the way. Blaine had Tuesday-Thursdays."
Blaine nodded happily and stood up to shake Fredrick's hand, taking Julie then from Kurt so Kurt could do the same while Blaine strapped Julie back into the stroller despite protests from her.
They were both grinning from ear to ear as they left the office, and Blaine suggested they get some panini's at a little deli not far away from the campus they hadn't visited since the spring.
As they ate, Kurt rocked the stroller back and forth with his foot, while Blaine sang a disney tune to Julie between bites. For her part, Julie seemed appeased, at least until Blaine finished his meal and scooped Julie up to give her a bottle, then it was clear just how hungry she was. She was always ready to eat, and her growth charts indicated that she might end up taller than Kurt when fully grown.
"This whole having a kid thing has actually worked out better than I thought." Blaine mused while holding Julie.
Kurt laughed and nodded, "She is also the ultimate accessory. It doesn't matter what you're wearing, she looks good on you."
Blaine chuckled and tucked the now empty bottle into the diaper bag, propping Julie over his shoulder to tap her back gently and coax out any gas. Julie was, thankfully, not a puker. They had been able to maintain a certain level of style while out and about with her, not having to worry about being vomited on.
"My mom wanted to see if we wanted her to come out for the first couple weeks that we're back in school to help with the transition..." Blaine spoke slowly, almost with a degree of guilt.
Kurt raised his eyebrows. Their parents had given them some space since Julie had come along, but lately there had been an increase in requests to visit, and given that they had no guest room, they didn't know how they would accommodate a guest.
"She said she'd be happy to sleep on the couch, or even in a nearby hotel, and that she just wanted to help us out...."
"What do you want Blaine?" Kurt cut in, sensing that there was something more Blaine was trying to get at.
"Well... I mean... it would be nice... to maybe have a date night?" Blaine blushed furiously as he said it, hunching his shoulders up and looking away guiltily.
"Sweetie. I'd love to have a date with you too. We've been doing this alone for a couple months now. We shouldn't feel guilty about wanting a break for a night."
"But... I feel bad because I don't want anyone to ever think that I want to be away from her." With this, Blaine looked back up at Kurt, scanning his face to see if he was understanding.
Kurt scooted closer to Blaine on the bench they were sitting on, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Neither do I... but we should also let our parents grandparent. Especially since Finn and Cooper won't be getting around to making more grandkids anytime soon."
Blaine nodded and rested his head on Kurt's shoulder, "I just don't want to spoil her too much."
Kurt laughed, "Oh Blaine... we're going to have a hard time not spoiling Julie."
"I was talking about my mother." Blaine responded, and the boys chuckled.
After discussing it, Blaine called his mother on his cellphone and let her know she could come out and sleep on the couch, in exchange for watching Julie a couple nights while she was visiting so they could go on a date. Kurt could hear her excitement through the phone and chuckled, rocking Julie in his arms who was quickly drifting off to sleep.
"You know our parents are going to fight over where we spend Christmas now right?" Blaine said as he got off the phone.
Kurt huffed, "We'll figure it out when the time comes. Let's just get through fall semester for now."
"We also need to figure out what we're doing about our jobs..." Blaine added slowly, tentatively, and Kurt realized just how much of an impact school and parenting would have on their ability to work.
"Oh my gosh Blaine.... I just can't leave Vogue. Isabelle and the team have been so good to me and I love working there!" Kurt exclaimed, looking up in a panic.
"Well I really like doing the music program with the kids too where I work... but if we're both in school all day, or watching Julie, I don't know how we'll fit in work other than on the weekends, which doesn't work for either of our jobs...."
Kurt sighed and went to place a now sleeping Julie into the stroller, who made a little whimper in her sleep but then was quiet again once she was snapped in place. "I need to call Isabelle.... I need to see if there's any options..."
Kurt ended up texting Isabelle since she didn't pick up (which was usual for her) and he hated leaving voice mail. Beside him, Blaine was doing the same with his boss.
"I wonder if we'll see each other again once this semester starts up..." Kurt said, looking over at Blaine once he had finished his text. He meant it partially as a joke, but he found he was already dreading their busy fall schedules and how little time they'd have altogether.
"Hey. We'll figure this out. Don't you worry your cute little buns off."
Kurt chuckled and leaned into Blaine who met him with a kiss, at which point Kurt's ringtone for Isabelle went off. He sat back up and answered the call. "Hey Isabelle...."
Kurt explained the situation to Isabelle who, instead of getting upset, went into an excited frenzy over how Julie should become the office mascot and they should get a playpen and crib set up so Kurt could come in on his off days and work and everyone else could enjoy her. Kurt finished off the conversation laughing and smiling. He really couldn't have asked for a better boss if he wanted to.
During the conversation, Blaine had been texting back and forth with his boss, and once Kurt explained Isabelle's offer, Blaine explained that his boss wanted him to set up weekend music lessons for kids since the weekday music program that Blaine had been doing was hugely successful.
"Serendipitous..." Kurt murmured and shook his head, scarcely believing how much things were sliding so well into place.
Blaine nodded and looked up, "And there's no meteor about to hit us either... I really am the luckiest guy in the world."