“And without further ado, I present to you the William McKinley High School graduating class of 2012!” 

A flurry of red caps flew into the air accompanied by much shouting and laughter. I did my best to catch mine and hurry out of the crowd. There was way too much hugging and invading of personal space going on for my taste. I spotted my dad and Carole across the gymnasium and made a beeline for them. Dad was grinning proudly and Carole looked like she was trying not to cry as she held a squirming toddler in her arms.

I watched as Jude’s pudgy fingers made the sign for ‘father’ and pointed at me. It made my heart swell. His little arms reached for me as I neared and I gathered him into a tight hug, burying my face in his dark curls. I felt a large arm wrap around my shoulder and looked up to see Finn looking down at us with his trademark half-smile.

“We did it, Dude,” he said simply. Before I could chastise him about calling me ‘dude’ I was suddenly blinded. When my vision cleared I saw Carole standing before us, tears falling freely, camera in hand.

“My boys are all grown up,” she sobbed. Dad merely shook his head indulgently and wrapped her in a hug.

“I’m proud of you boys. I mean that.” Dad’s voice was gruff, but I’d known him long enough to hear the emotion underneath. He might not be the mess that Carole was right then but he was feeling just as much.

“Thanks, Burt. That really means a lot.” Finn’s quiet words were underscored by the hesitant hug he gave to my dad, who was now his stepfather. The wedding happened last year. Finn and I arranged everything with the help of the glee club. It had been absolutely beautiful.

“So what are you guys doing tonight? I figure there's gonna be some kind of party?” Dad looked at us expectantly. Finn nodded and started rattling on about how everyone was going bowling and how he had to make sure he had Rachel home by midnight or her dads would freak. I kept quiet. The only plans I had for the night were to get out of this wretched red gown and take a long hot bath once I had Jude down for the evening.

“Kurt? What about you?” Dad’s question caught me off guard.

“What about me?” I returned, confused by the question. When did I ever go out at night? Even when the glee club had gone to nationals in New York my junior year I had paid for my own room and airfare so that I could bring Jude along with me. Mr. Schue had taken care of him during the competition but otherwise he had been with me the entire time.

“This is a once in a lifetime event, son. You need to go out and celebrate.” He looked at me pointedly. “You deserve this. Enjoy it.”

“What about Jude?” I asked, my voice growing higher in my panic. “What if he needs me?”

“I think I can handle my grandson for one night, Kurt? Between me and Carole we got this covered.”

“But, Dad,” I whined. “What if something happens and I’m not there?”

“Kurt. It will be fine. He will be fine. We will all be fine.” He had Jude out of my arms before I could say anything else. “Just stay away from the alcohol. That’s all I ask of you. I don’t need to be getting a call from the hospital and having another heart attack, okay?”

I shuddered at his casual reference to his heart condition but rolled my eyes. “Dad, the last time I got drunk I impregnated a woman. I have learned that alcohol is not my friend, trust me.”

“Just keep that in mind.” He turned to Finn. “You too, Buddy. Remember, drinking leads to babies and car wrecks. I’m not ready to add another member to the family and I'm not ready to lose one. Be careful.”

“Will do, Burt! C’mon, Kurt!”  

I squeaked in surprise as I was suddenly thrown over a large shoulder. I had a face full of red polyester and my feet were kicking wildly.

“Put me down, Sasquatch!” I squeaked indignantly.

“Nope, I already got permission from Burt to kidnap you for the night. You are having fun tonight.” He laughed and hitched me up higher, ignoring my attempts at escape.

“Finn! You can put me down, I do have legs.”

"Nah, it's more fun this way!"

I kept my stream of complaints steady as we moved through the gym and into the parking lot but I'd stopped my struggles, resigned to my fate. When he finally put me down next to my Navigator, I swayed dizzily.

"Whoa, head rush."

"Yeah, it's fun, huh?" Finn laughed merrily at my dazed expression before climbing into the driver's seat of my car. My car.

"Exactly what do you think you are doing, Hudson?"

"You said if I got my Government grade up to a B you would let me drive your car for a week." He waved a piece of paper in front of my nose. His unofficial transcript printout. Damn. I did promise that.

"Whatever, lets just get this night over with so I can go home."

"Oh, no! You are going to bowl with us and have fun. Everybody in the New Direction's is gonna be there, even the underclassmen."

"Finn, I'm not even in the New Directions, remember? I had to drop out this semester to get that final credit so I could graduate with the rest of the class and not have to take summer school." I hadn't been happy about that but I'd had no choice really. Mr. Schuester had really pulled through on the whole half-day schedule but Figgins had insisted that I take one more science credit and the only option I had was at the same time as glee. Mr. Schue was upset but he understood why I had to quit, and with Sam moving back and Puck and Lauren reigniting their romance and her rejoining the group, there were still enough members to compete.

"Dude, it doesn't matter that you weren't with us in the last few months, you'll always be a part of the New Directions. Not to mention, you're everyone's friend and my brother so you're doing this. Deal with it." He grinned evilly. "Aaaand you have to wear the shoes!"

"I quote the one and only Miss Jones when I say this: Hell to the NO!" Kurt Hummel did not wear anyone's used shoes. There was no telling what diseases were crawling all over those disgusting things. "I will be just fine in my Steve Madden boots thank you."

"Whatever, Dude, but when you fall on your butt don't blame me."

"Why Finn Hudson, since when are you so concerned with the state of my ass?" I batted my eyes coquettishly. He was my brother now and held absolutely no attraction over me but I just couldn't help but try to freak him out every now and again. It was one of those brother things.

He was unfazed by my over-the-top flirting. "Dude, it's not your ass that concerns me, it's your mouth. If you get a paper cut you bitch for days. I can't imagine if you cracked your tailbone. You'd annoy me to death before you got better."

I was offended. "Hey, paper cuts really hurt!" I retorted. He just mumbled something under his breath and kept his eyes on the road.

"Oh, we're here!" Finn's excitement was evident in his voice. I couldn't quite match his enthusiasm, but I was going to try and not be a complete spoilsport tonight.

"Yay. Bowling." I drawled. He didn't even pay attention to me as he started towards the building. "Hey, wait up Stilt-Legs!"

It turned out Finn was right, all the members of the New Directions showed up and we did have a pretty good time. Puck had used his fake ID to get pitchers of beer which I stayed well clear of. I didn't even understand how the staff let us all get away with the alcohol, because, seriously, every ten minutes one person or the other would raise a plastic glass and toast the class of 2012. We made quite the spectacle.

After we'd been there for a few hours, the place was almost empty. The only other patrons were a middle-aged couple two lanes to our left and a group of high school kids five lanes to our right. They were all wearing the same type of outfit, gray slacks with white shirts and some of them had navy blazers. I figured they went to one of the private schools in the area.

I was waiting for my turn—Mike, Tina, Santana, Quinn, and Lauren were all ahead of me—and decided that I might as well spend my time scoping out the prep school boys, some of whom were pretty cute. We were far enough from their group that no one was likely to notice my scrutiny. Of course, that didn't mean that none of my friends would notice my preoccupation.

"Checking you out some man candy, Hummel?" Santana's smooth voice whispered in my ear. I jumped, not realizing that she was sitting right next to me. Hell, she was practically in my lap. I must have really been zoned in on those boys.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Satan. I am merely admiring the lovely decor or this establishment." I managed to keep my voice even but I could feel the heat creeping up my face. Santana grinned slyly.

"Yeah, I can see what you were admiring just fine. They're not even my type but I gots to say, I love me a man in uniform."

"It does have a certain appeal, hmm?" I admitted, letting my eyes wander back over to the boys. A few of them were roughhousing, causing shirts and pants to pull just tight enough to hint at defined muscle underneath. Definitely appealing.

"So what are you sitting here for? Go get you some of that fine young school boy ass." She playfully shoved me.

"Wow, you just made that sound so wrong, predator-like even," I huffed. Santana just cackled. "And besides, they're all probably straight and I do not want to spend the rest of my evening in a dumpster, thank you very much."

"Whatever, Ladyface, I'm up. I'll leave you to your fantasies." I watched her grab a blood red ball from the return and stride to the lane, hips swaying seductively. I turned back to the boys across the room. A few of them were awfully good looking. There was a thin boy with cornsilk blonde hair and a cute smile. And another with olive skin and way too much hair gel, but I liked the way he laughed. And that Asian boy wasn't too hard on the eyes either...

"Hummel, you're up." I sighed inwardly, grabbing one of the child-sized balls from the return. It wasn't that I couldn't heft the full sized ones, but I wasn't really that good and my first attempt had sent the ball flying behind me, narrowly missing a glass trophy case. It was just safer this way for all involved.

I somehow managed to pull a spare—my first of the evening—and was thrown into the middle of a drunken group hug. I squawked about my hair getting ruined, but nobody paid attention, for which I was really glad. I missed this, just being a kid. But I knew that once I was home again with Jude the feeling of nostalgia would fade, overtaken by my joy in him. I missed being a kid sometimes, but I loved my kid more than anything.