“What're you doing?” Carole asked, coming up to Kurt in the kitchen, covered head to toe in flour and sugar and egg goo.

“Making cookies for K.J.” Kurt responded, looking over at his tablet to see what the next step was.

She chuckled and set about taking off her necklace and earrings, putting on her custom apron that read black on pink ‘Never Trust a Skinny Chef' and joined him.  “Making everything from scratch even…”

Kurt nodded.  He had been reading a lot about parenting and was suddenly quite concerned over processed foods entering his child.  “I figure I'd make a whole stock of things and then when he's here I won't have to worry about making any more for awhile.”

There had been a lot of discussions in the past week since he'd seen his son and his heart had absolutely melted into a puddle that he was still trying to pull out from his feet where it had settled.  His dad was insistent that he stay in school and not drop out to take a job, saying the between being a congressman, the profits from the shop, and the payments he and Carole were getting from the university Finn had been attending (a topic which he had made some assumptions on but was afraid to ask about), there was more then enough to support Kurt and K.J., and even Blaine for that matter.  

They would stay here, in the townhouse.  The guest room he had would be for him and Blaine, and the second guest room across the hall was currently being emptied by Burt and Blaine so Kurt could start painting and decorating it for his son - once he was done making a mess of the kitchen anyhow.  Kurt was deciding between staying on as on online student with NYU, since it didn't matter where he studied from, or doing the same from another institution.  He couldn't just attend regular classes at Ohio State since that would put him out of the city.  Ultimately it was all about course options.

Burt had also been working on a statement and press release regarding the very latest news in the Hummel household.  The press had already been calling and asking for confirmation as someone in the foster care department had leaked the information to someone in the media.  There was already an article out about “Congressman Hummel's Illegitimate Grandson” in the local paper that Kurt refused to read, even though Blaine assured him that, title aside, it was actually not a bad piece.

Carole had volunteered to stay behind as much as she could when Burt was in Washington to help out and to ensure Kurt had quiet time to work on his courses, as well as, Kurt surmised, to ensure he was parenting properly.  Her help was welcome though.  As much of an ass as Finn had been, Carole had always been good to him and he was finding he enjoyed his time with her.

“Are you sure your friend is okay staying in a hotel dear?” Carole asked as she used the blender to mash fruit for popsicles as per one of the teething remedy recipes he had out.

Kurt rolled his eyes.  Rachel was not a friend, but, whatever.  “She'd prefer it even if we had a guest room open I'm betting…”

Blaine had held off on telling his family until just a couple days ago.  Despite his apparent fears, both of his parents responded quite happily and Rachel even insisted on coming out to Ohio during her well timed break in production to meet the little one.  Wes seemed to be the only one concerned, and Kurt knew that he and Blaine had been having a lot of conversations over Skype while Kurt had been reading or getting things ready for K.J.

Blaine.  Kurt sighed as he thought about it.  Blaine had been insanely quiet since Kurt had come home from visiting Quinn and told them everything she had told him.  He followed Kurt, snuggled him, and was there for whatever Kurt asked of him, but it was like his personality had taken a vacation and he was just a shell.  Carole had suggested that he was just getting used to the knowledge, but Kurt wasn't convinced.  Something was definitely off.

Or maybe it was just Kurt was overly aware of everything suddenly.

Like all the potential dangers in the house.  He had already spent over two hundred on paper proofing items which he had Blaine installing yesterday and now every time tried to open a cabinet only to remember they had to push the thing down inside to get into it they grumbled at themselves.  It had entertained Kurt immensely to watch.

“Unless you have more of those tiny freezer tubs I think we're done.”  Carole announced a little while later and Kurt looked into the freezer to survey their work with a nod.  Stacks and stacks of baby sized portions of food all labeled with what it was and today's date.  The cupboard was a similar set-up, though there wasn't as much concern over portioning since everything was scoopable or already in a portion size (like the teething cookies).  It looked like a mob of babies had taken over the kitchen with all the food ready for just the one coming.

“Great.  Well I'll tidy up and then go see if the bedroom is ready to paint.”  Kurt announced and Carole tutted at him.  

“You go.  I'll clean up.”

He smiled at her, appreciating being released to deal with the next task.  The upstairs hallway was a maze of furniture that hadn't been taken down to the basement storage yet, but the room itself was clean, Burt and Blaine sitting back against the wall and sitting beers as they spoke.

“Well son.  It's all yours now.  Did you decide on a colour?” Burt said once Kurt entered the room.

Kurt nodded, and pulled the swatches from his back pant pocket, “Two actually.  I'm going to do blue on the top - a nice deep one, and green on the bottom.  Both are calming according to all the colour psychology sites I read and it'll go good with the theme I want in here.”

“Which is…?”

“I'm going to make my little man a jungle in here.”  Kurt bounced on his toes as he announced it, so pleased with himself and his vision of what K.J. would get to live in.  

Burt chuckled and took another sip of beer, Blaine doing the same with a slight smile on his face.  Kurt left them to gather the paint and supplies he had bought earlier, setting up around them and taping off the window and trim as they continued conversing about a particular bill in the house that Burt was dealing with.  Try as he might, a lot of that stuff went in one of Kurt's ears and out the other, but Blaine always seemed to have a firm grasp on national politics and he was glad his dad had Blaine to bounce his thoughts off on.

“Need me to do anything?”  Kurt was asked by Blaine after the beers were apparently finished off and Burt had gone to see about supper with Carole.

Kurt pressed his lips together thoughtfully.  It was still a surprise to him to not feel his lip ring when he did that, but he had set ideas about being a dad and lip rings weren't included. “I forgot to get some books.  Can you go to the bookstore and get him some books?  Not regular paper ones… the thick cardboard like ones.”

He heard Blaine snicker and as he looked over curiously, he saw his boyfriend shaking his head.  “What's so funny?”

“It's just…”  Blaine held his hands out to either side, “Of all the things I thought a year ago, the very last thing I expected was you being concerned with the type of baby books purchased.  It's just… so… not you.”

Kurt huffed and turned back to taping up the trim where he was, “Things change Blaine.”

“Obviously.”

Kurt didn't miss the hint of sarcasm in Blaine's tone, but let it go for now, focusing on the task at hand. K.J. would be here tomorrow and he wanted things to be perfect - and the paint needed to be dry before he could sleep in here.

The day progressed quickly from there.  Kurt only took breaks between coats of paint, and Burt worked on a release with his manager.  Carole helped Kurt build the furniture for K.J.'s room and the only time he had a chance to sit was when the care worker stopped by to bring over K.J.'s documentation.

“Okay… birth certificate, now with your name on it as the father, social security, copies of medical records, and Quinn's release signed to you.”

Kurt nodded, going through the paperwork but stopping abruptly on the birth certificate.  “Carole…”

She looked over and then drew a hand to her mouth with a small gasp.  “Oh…”

His son's full legal name, as of the change in birth certificate and Quinn's sign off was Kurt Finn Hummel.

When the care worker left, Carole gave her head a shake and looked to Kurt, “You know… that girl had Finn convinced he was the dad of her first child… and now… there's got to be some sort of irony that she had her second child with you.”

“Must want into the family bad I guess.”  Blaine offered with a shrug.

They chuckled at the unintentionally funny statement and as soon as Kurt was done eating, he was back upstairs, positioning furniture in the bedroom, leaving some room between it and the wall while it continued to dry, and arranged toys and books and clothing into the closet.

“Rachel's on her way over…”  Blaine interrupted him as Kurt was peering through the books Blaine had bought.  

“Okay… I'll go shower…”

By the time he was done washing the sweat and paint off him, and getting dressed, Rachel was there, in animated conversation with Carole and Burt about the play she was in.

“Kurt!” She exclaimed gleefully when she saw him and he had to do a double take to make sure it was really Rachel who was excited to see him and not some doppelganger.

“Uh.. hey Rachel.”  He offered, glancing towards Blaine with an arched brow in question and getting a shrug in return as he went to sit aside Blaine.

“So.  Big day tomorrow!  Mom sent me with all kinds of gifts for the little one… and I need to know what we're calling him because calling him the same thing as you would just be silly.”

Kurt shrugged, “They tell me that depending on the home he's been at that it's either been just Kurt or Junior.  Quinn apparently called him K.J. though so I think that's what I'll go with too.”

She squealed and Kurt immediately tensed, thinking she had seen a mouse or something by the noise.  “Oh!  Little K!  I love it!”

“You're… awfully excited about this Rach.”  Blaine noted.

“Oh baby brother, of course I am!  My first nephew!  Mom always said you'd end up with kids before me and look, it's true!  Thank goodness too because I don't know where I'd fit kids in with my schedule.  Being an aunt is perfect.”

Kurt glanced to his side, watching Blaine purse his lips and remain quiet, as he had so much throughout this all, clearly keeping his thoughts to himself.  It was unsettling and something in Kurt's stomach turned.

Rachel continued her uncharacteristically overly pleasantries until she left for the night, and Kurt crawled in with Blaine, though was so giddy with excitement and nerves that he had trouble sleeping, instead staring off at the ceiling well until morning.

He got up and got ready, minding that he wore something soft so K.J. could huddle against him easily, and then made a big breakfast for everyone who slowly filtered down the stairs in varying states of wake.  Rachel arrived too, noting that because she was a vegetarian she couldn't have the bacon Kurt made, to which he rolled his eyes, and then lectured his father on having bacon as well given his heart issues in the past.

Then the doorbell rang and Kurt suddenly wasn't so concerned with who could and couldn't eat the fried bits of pork as he bounded to answer the door to find a couple care workers and his son there, held by one of them and looking very drowsy.

Kurt quickly took K.J. into his arms and held him closely, letting him fall asleep against him after making a few whines.  The caregivers inspected the house and then noted to Kurt specifically that they'd be by, unscheduled, over the course of the next few months to ensure everything was good for K.J. and then left, leaving Kurt with his son and everyone gathered around in the living room.

“He's so pudgy…. maybe you should put him on Baby Atkins.” Rachel noted.

“Babies are supposed to be more fat than muscle Rachel.”  Carole interrupted before Kurt could say something snarky back to her.  “Once he starts walking that'll change.”

“I can't get over how much he looks like you Kurt.”  Burt noted, leaning in to inspect the sleeping boy's face which was creating a small puddle of drool in Kurt's shoulder.`

“Well, at least we know he'll be a looker than.” Kurt teased, moving a hand up to stroke K.J.'s fine, chestnut hair over, revelling in how soft it was.

“Is he going to have any attachment issues?” Rachel asked, and all eyes turned onto her, “I mean… he's jumped from place to place and his mom was taken away from him…”

“They did talk about that… yesterday when they were here….”  Kurt sighed, “It'll probably take him awhile to get used to us all and realize that we're here for good for him.”

Honestly, it broke his heart a little that his son had been in limbo for so long, and he didn't even want to think about how traumatic it must have been for him to be stripped of his mother at such a tender age.

“What about Quinn?  Won't she want him back when she's out?”

Another touchy point.  “She's in for another eighteen months… and then parole… Apparently her lawyer advised her against trying to get custody for awhile even after she's out because of her history with losing Beth and then losing him… it's not going to look good for her… but, I'm not going to deny him his mother either.  I'm going to make sure he knows her and that she knows she's welcome here too.”

“Even after… exposing him to all that?  You don't think that's dangerous for him?”

Kurt frowned, “She's my friend… and his mom… I need to give her a chance to be both.”

“So… she's a part of your and Blaine's life for good then huh?” Rachel asked, peering over towards her brother who gave one of his more and more frequent shrugs.  “Guess I'll have to get to know her too.”

Kurt was happy just to recline back on the sofa and let K.J. sleep on him as people passed in and out of the room, usually to see if K.J. was awake so they could let him get to know them, well, except for Blaine.  He stayed in the room and watched the news quietly, every now and then asking Kurt if he needed anything.

When his son did wake up, Kurt quietly told Blaine he could let everyone know, but first he smiled and talked to his son who looked less than interested in Kurt and more interested in his new surroundings, making occasional noises which Kurt mimicked as the baby books had suggested he do to improve learning development.

Then Burt and Carole came in, each taking a turn holding K.J. and talking to him as well.  K.J. took a particular shine to Carole, babbling nonsensically at her and trying to grab at her shiny earrings before Rachel took her turn and K.J. promptly yanked a strand of her hair so hard she yelped and tears sprang forth from her eyes.  Kurt smirked to himself.  Karma.

Then K.J. was back in Kurt's hands, Blaine having gone to get a bottle and some lunch ready for him to eat at Kurt's request, and Kurt cooed at his son and helped him open a present from “Grandma Shelby” which was a baby rattle and gumming toy all in one.  K.J. seemed to understand the gumming part at least, gnawing on it with a small growl that delighted everyone in the room.

“Well son… how do you feel?” Burt asked that evening as Kurt fed his son, or at least tried to since K.J. was getting more of the mashed potatoes on his face and the high chair tray then into him.

“Like… things are going to be okay dad… I know this wasn't ideal… and I'm still not sure about it all, but I feel happy…”

And really, Kurt did.