I shut the fridge door after replacing the butter and admired the front of it. When I was younger and I’d imagined my future self, I always lived in some posh apartment with hardwood floors and pristine furnishings. The kitchen would be all stainless steel and black appliances and there would be no magnets or notes on the fridge to mar the beauty of my design.

I shook my head at the memory of what I had thought to be the perfect home, because in reality, I did have the perfect home and it was nothing like I had imagined it at fifteen.

The apartment was carpeted throughout, save the kitchen, dining room and bathroom and the walls were a simple white. The furniture was still mostly mismatched used pieces even after more than two years—Blaine refused to part with the couch “we rescued it from an early grave!”—and my kitchen was a mixture of old and new.

The fridge—which was stainless steel and fairly new—had been a gift from my father when ours died suddenly in the middle of that first summer and was absolutely covered in Jude’s drawings, his final report card from first grade—all A’s he was proud to show off—and the most recent addition, a family drawing that included not only he and I, but Blaine, Finn, Jessica, Puck, Lauren, Dad and Carole. In the top corner was his name and a smiley face sticker from his second grade teacher. It was held in place by the most godawful tacky magnet which of course, Blaine and Jude had picked out together on our last family outing of the summer.

I stared at that drawing until the oven timer chimed and I set about peeling the foil from the pan and checking the meat to be sure it was done. Before I had Jude, I would have trusted the instructions, but I was ever cautious of accidently poisoning my child and I knew for a fact that sometimes things just didn’t go as planned. Anything my father attempted to cook was a good example of that.

I separated the veggies from the roast so they wouldn’t get soggy and took them out first, needing both hands for the roast pan itself.

I was just about to head back into the dining room with the main dish when I heard Blaine whispering to Jude. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but Blaine sounded so, well, nervous, that I didn’t want to intrude. I knew that he and Jude had bonded, hell sometimes the kid would go to Blaine with things before he would talk to me about them.

When he’d wanted to join a martial arts class his friend was in but was afraid that I wouldn’t let him do something so violent, he had turned to Blaine. They’d discussed it and Blaine had assured Jude that I would be open-minded to the suggestion if he told me his reasons. And I was, once I found out that it wasn’t from a desire to beat people up but rather because he thought the way people moved when they did it was really cool, almost like dancing. When I told him I was fine with it as long as he didn’t hurt anyone he was overjoyed.

I also offered to put him in dance classes and he told me he thought they were just for girls. I proceeded to pull up a video of Mike Chang performing from high school that was still on one of my old flash drives and told him all about how Mike was now a choreographer in Los Angeles. If he wasn’t interested in dance that was fine, but I never wanted him to be afraid to do something because of gender stereotypes.

In the end he did both and loved every minute of it. I worried briefly that he would be made fun of for being the only boy in the class, but then thought better of it. He was so happy doing what he loved. And besides, if anyone made fun of him for his dancing he could just whip out some kung-fu and whoop their asses. I don’t condone violence but nobody pushes the Hummels around.

I shook away the old worries and concentrated on the voice in my kitchen. I may have only been able to hear half of it but maybe it could give me some clue as to what was going on.

“So I talked to your grandpa and he says it’s okay, but I wanted to make sure it was okay with you, too.”

When did he talk to Dad? And what about?

Blaine’s words only piqued my interest and I strained to hear more, wishing I could see Jude’s hands so I could make more sense of the conversation.

“Yes, I do. But I don’t have it with me. I can show it to you before you go to bed if you want.”

What? What on earth is he talking about? And what does it have to do with my father?

“Well, that’s up to you. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but if you wanted to I would like that. Or you can talk to your dad about that, if you want.”

I was utterly confused at this point and my arms were starting to ache from holding the pan of roast. If I didn’t serve it soon it would be cold, too, so I made my shoes squeak loudly against the linoleum before walking through the entryway.

Jude and Blaine spring apart like they’ve been caught planning a murder, both giving me over-innocent grins. Blaine exclaimed loudly about how he didn’t know that roast beef could smell so good and Jude nods to everything Blaine says. I did my best to put a smile on my face and pretend like it was just another evening. I knew that whatever they’d been discussing would eventually come to light, I just hated having to wait. I was not the most patient person.

Dinner was tense. Blaine talked too much and too loud and Jude was doing his best Finn impression, shoveling food into his mouth as fast as he could.

As soon as he was finished, Jude asked to be excused and fled from the room when I gave him permission. Blaine watched him go with a tight smile

I took another bite of roast, chewing thoughtfully as I watched the man I love push his food around with his fork before he declared he was finished, too.

I decided to leave it be for now. The issue, whatever it was, was between the two of them and when they were ready to involve me, they would. It was just one of the dynamics of our little family and it worked for us.

Blaine gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, claiming he needed to call Wes about the new record before heading into our bedroom and easing the door shut.

He had been writing songs for an artist that Wes had signed last year who wrote wonderful poetry but had a hard time putting music to the words. He was even featured vocals on a few of the songs on her last album and had been contacted about singing professionally, but said he preferred the quiet life to the glitz of Hollywood. He said he loved performing but he loved me and Jude more. I had never felt so grateful for that man coming into my life.

After graduating with my degree in special education, I was hired on at Haverbrook School for the Deaf to work with new students coming into the program. I worked mainly with younger children, but there was the occasional older transfer and—thankfully few and far between—accident victim who were having trouble adjusting. It was an hour commute, but with Blaine working from home I didn’t have to worry about putting Jude in daycare and I still made it home in time to take Jude to his evening lessons so I couldn’t complain.

I loved my job really. Life was good.

I finished cleaning the dinner dishes and went to check on Jude. He was studying his vocabulary words for the next day’s test so I let him be but told him to get ready for bed when he was done.

I peeked in our bedroom to check on Blaine. He was in the middle of Skyping with Wes and froze mid-sentence when he noticed me. He smiled thinly at me but his eyes were about to bug out of his head. I figured he and Wes were arguing, again, so I just mouthed ‘sorry’ and closed the door. I had a few things to do for work the next day that would keep me busy until he was done.

I was about to get up and remind Jude about bedtime but Blaine popped his head out of our bedroom door and announced that he was taking bedtime duty tonight because I had so much work to catch up on.

“Alright, but don’t forget I get goodnight hugs before it’s all said and done,” I hollered at his retreating form. He waved at me absently and I went back to work.

I had just finished up and was reorganizing my messenger bag when Jude tackle hugged me from the side. I laughed and squeezed him back, placing a kiss on his still damp hair before we both retreated to our separate rooms.

I was laying out my outfit for the next morning when Blaine snaked his arms around my waist.

“Hey there, tiger. How are you tonight?” I said leaning my head back.

“I’m grrrrreat!” he whispered before nipping at my ear.

I managed to somehow laugh and gasp at the same time, which was kind of awkward and just made me laugh harder. I could feel his warm breath against my neck as he laughed with me so I didn’t feel too bad about spoiling his strange attempt at seduction.

I pressed more firmly back into Blaine’s chest and felt his arms tighten around me. It was a perfect moment.

“So, are you and Jude plotting world domination or what?” I asked jokingly. I felt him tense briefly before he laughed and began idly rubbing my sides.

“Just focusing on the greater Ohio area for now but who knows what the future holds.”

“Ah. I see,” I mused. “Well, I know whatever it is you two will come clean eventually so I’m choosing to trust your parental judgment for the moment and not pry.”

I heard the intake of breath and felt the hands still on my body before they dropped. I turned around to see what was wrong, but to my surprise, Blaine was smiling.

Not just smiling, grinning from ear to ear like I’d just given him a lifetime supply of Carole’s lasagna and told him he didn’t have to share.

“Blaine?” I stared at him because, really, what the hell was with that grin? Was I missing something?

“You just said I’m Jude’s parent,” he whispered.

I replayed my sentence in my head and realized that yeah, I kinda just did pretty much imply that he was a parent to my child. And I didn’t mind, really, though I’d never imagined sharing my son with anyone, letting another person claim him like that.

“I did. Is that okay with you?” I ask cautiously. Despite knowing that Blaine loved both me and my son, I felt the need to tread lightly here.

Blaine just nodded like a bobble head doll in a paint mixer, megawatt grin still in place.

“Good,” I smiled at him, relieved.

I walked over to my vanity to begin my moisturizing routine. I had just sat down and made to reach for the jar of night cream but I stopped with my hand halfway there.

“Blaine,” I whispered. “What is this?”

There, nestled in between my Oil of Olay and my Aveeno was a little black box.

A ring box.

It was open, and inside sat a simple white gold band with three small diamonds embedded in it.

I was staring at it so hard I didn’t see Blaine kneel next to my chair until he grabbed my hand.

“Kurt Elizabeth Hummel,” he started almost breathlessly. “You are the morning light that shines on me each day when I wake up, the stars that shine down on me before I close my eyes each night. You are the wind that blows through my hair when I walk down the street, the rain that falls against my face when I look up at the sky during a storm, the warmth that I feel on a sunny day. You are my everything. I want to spend every day of the rest of our lives showing you how much you mean to me because there aren’t words enough for me to tell you properly. Would you do me the honor of becoming my husband?”

I was crying silently by the time he was done with his speech, but my face felt like it would split in two with the smile on my lips.

I couldn’t get my mouth to work like it should, it didn’t want to stop grinning long enough for me to speak so I just nodded wordlessly.

Blaine just grinned at me like he had moments before, slowly sliding the promise ring he’d gotten for me that first Christmas off my left ring finger and onto my right. That done, he pulled the new ring from it’s box and gently slid it in place of the first.

He leaned down and briefly pressed his lips to both rings before bringing his face level with mine.

He didn’t lean in to kiss me, just stared at me with wonder in his eyes. Those eyes that were so full of love and hope and everything good. They were mine now. Forever.

“Forever,” he echoed, making me realize that I’d said that last bit out loud.

There were so many things I wanted to say right then, but I still couldn’t get my mouth to form words consciously. So I did the next best thing. I closed the space between us and kissed my fiancé.

My fiancé. My future husband. My Blaine.