2034

"Okay, fine, no more wine for me," Burt finally acquiesced to Kurt's concerned nagging. Kurt took the bottle of wine away.

"So, how are all your old friends doing?" Burt asked, leaning back in his seat. "You had that big reunion out in New York at that fancy social club last year didn't you?"

"Yeah! It was so awesome!" Eli exclaimed. "We got to see so many places in New York! The last time we had been there we were so little we couldn't remember anything!"

"Gershwin theater!" Barbra interjected.

"Statue of Liberty!"

Rachel stared dreamily into space. "It was amazing! New York was still just the way I remembered it! All the glitz and glamor, the lights! Oh, we had such a good time!"

Kurt raised his eyebrow at his sister-in-law. "Uh, I do believe dad was asking about our friends…"

2033

"Now that the Hummel-Andersons have been so kind to grace us with their presence, I do believe we can get started with the evening's festivities!" A smartly dressed man wielding a wooden gavel greeted Kurt, Blaine and Ava as the trio walked through the double oak doors of the Union League Club's Main Room.

"Wesley Eric Nguyen," Blaine bellowed. "You haven't changed one bit, have you?" The man who first spoke to the Hummel-Andersons leapt from his seat and ran across the floor to greet the family.

"My goodness, Blainers!" he shouted joyfully, throwing an arm around Blaine. "Look at you! Teacher of the year at Dalton New York? A five year winning streak at regionals? You do us Warblers proud, man!"

Blaine punched his old Dalton friend playfully in the arm. "Wes! Good to see you too! You're not doing too badly yourself. Congratulations on your promotion at London School of Economics! You'd better come over for dinner a few times while you're here!"

"Of course we will! And Kurt!" Wes exclaimed. "Finally! I see you on TV all the time accepting all those awards – how many Tony's is it now, four? Five? I've lost count! Good to see you too, buddy!" Kurt and Wes exchanged high fives.

Wes looked at Ava. "And this must be the famous Ava Helena Hummel-Anderson. Even more beautiful in the flesh. How do you do, miss?" He bowed in an exaggerated manner. Ava giggled and curtsied. Baba was right. His old Dalton friends were a bit nutty. "David and I can't wait to tell you stories about your dads. I hope you brought your notebook, because this is good blackmail material – our Christmas gift to you, Princess Ava!"

Blaine shouted in mock horror. "Wes! How dare you try to corrupt our kid?"

Kurt let out a boisterous laugh. "You're a little late, Wes. Finchel already beat you to all the incriminating stories."

Wes winked at the girl. "All right, why don't you guys take your seats? They're about to serve dinner. We'll have to do some catching up. And Kurt, we're going to have to play some serious Mario Kart this spring. My kid's been teaching me some tricks, and I'm determined to beat you one of these days!"

It had been Wes' idea to have this reunion. He had been living in London for the past ten years. As soon as he had been promoted, the Economics Department at Columbia University had invited him to New York as a distinguished visiting lecturer. The minute he had received the news, he began scheming to put together a Warblers-New Directions reunion. It was a complete fluke that so many of them were either living in New York or happened to be in town visiting friends and relatives.

Blaine surveyed the elaborately decorated banquet room. He was surprised at how many people actually made it to this New Directions-Warblers reunion. It was amazing, really. When he had transferred to McKinley to be with Kurt, he had remained friends with most of the Warblers. He had been terrified that the Warblers would begrudge Kurt for "taking" him away, but since Kurt was well-liked among Warbler circles, there were no hard feelings. Most of the Dalton glee clubbers took Kurt's return to McKinley and Blaine's subsequent transfer as a welcomed opportunity to escape the stuffy conventions of their prestigious school. Blaine smiled fondly at the memory of the "educational trip" they all took to McKinley that spring afternoon to give Kurt his farewell serenade. He also remembered how proud he felt when all the Warblers came to see him perform on the opening night of West Side Story. He didn't even mind so much that Sebastian had been there. He recalled many more Warblers-New Directions rendez-vous: trips to the bowling alley (which normally ended in a pizza eating contest between Mike Chang and the Warblers' beat boxer), snowball fights (which usually started out as a New Directions versus Warblers battle but always ended with everyone against Puck and David), and even a camping trip (which almost resulted in a near-death experience, since Artie had mistaken Trent for a bear). Yes, it was good to have the two groups together again, if only for one short evening.

Kurt snaked his arms around Blaine's waist, breaking him out of his reverie. "Come on Blaine, let's go sit down – I think we're sitting with Nick and Jeff. Look –" he pointed to a table at the center of the room, where a tall man with wispy blond hair and a shorter dark haired man stood, waving madly at Blaine and Kurt.

"Klaine! Klaine! Klaine!" Nick and Jeff shouted, banging on the table. Kurt rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like, "Boys will be boys."

"And where am I going to sit? They only have two seats left at that table!" Ava pouted. She liked to think she was all grown-up and independent, but sometimes at big events like these, it was just best to stick to Daddy and Baba.

Before Blaine and Kurt had a chance to answer their daughter, Eli and Barbra came running up to them.

"Ava!" Barbra grabbed Ava by the hand. "So glad you're here. What took you so long, Uncle Kurt and Blaine? We thought you'd never get here! Mom kept calling but nobody answered. She thought you might have had a wardrobe emergency and had to hit the stores at the last minute."

Blaine and Kurt stole knowing looks at each other. Their thoughts wandered to that very thing they were doing that made them late to pick up Ava from Elaine's on the way to the reunion. Only it didn't involve running around men's fashion stores in Manhattan.

"Ugh, never mind why they're late Barbra, you're such a busybody," Eli said exasperatedly.

"Come on, Ava, you're sitting with us. With all the other kids over there." He pointed at a table near the back of the room, where a crowd of kids gathered. "One kid is doing impressions of some actor from Grandma's era non-stop – I think it's that guy who was in all those James Bond movies that Dad likes to watch all the time. You have GOT to see this. So. Incredibly. Dorky."

Kurt couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm guessing that's Sam and Mercedes' kid with his Sean Connery impressions," he whispered to Blaine.

Blaine smiled at the three kids standing in front of him. "Okay, Ava, go on with your cousins. But you three, be nice to the other kids. Their parents are Daddy and Baba's friends, you know."

"Okay Baba, I'll see you later," Ava shouted as she scampered off with her cousins.

Blaine and Kurt, along with Rachel and Finn, were sitting at a table with Nick, Jeff, Wes, and their wives. The group of friends had plenty of questions for each other. Sure, they had been keeping in touch via all the latest social media sites, but it was wonderful to finally speak to each other in person.

"So, Nick, when are we going to see you on TV?" Kurt asked his old friend from the Warblers as they ate dinner.

"The new science correspondent for NBC news. That's something to drink to!" Blaine added as he raised his glass and motioned to others sitting at the table to follow suit.

"Yes, here's to Nick, another one of our Warbler brothers to join us in New York!" Blaine toasted.

"Well, once I get settled at the bureau, I'll be on every once in a while," Nick responded. "There's a science spot once a week now, but we've been working on a larger story that will get featured more regularly. I still can't believe I got this job. It sure beats working at a lab at Arizona State."

"So, Jeff, that leaves you now? When are you going to move to New York so we can do this every year?" Blaine teased.

Jeff grinned and shook his head. "New York is great, don't get me wrong, but you'll never get me and Cindy to leave LA. We run an outdoor adventure tourist business. What would we do out here? Teach people to rappel down the Rockefeller tower?"

Kurt looked around him. He had only been a Warbler for a few months, but he had gained some life-long friends from this group. He got along especially well with Nick and Jeff – ever since that sectionals audition so long ago, the three of them had spent a lot of time commiserating about not having any competition solos. He was especially grateful that Nick and Jeff had fully supported him on that memorable day when Blaine practically demanded that the Warbler Council let Kurt sing a duet with him for regionals. Years later, he had asked them why they never tried to put up a fight for the second lead. Jeff simply smiled and told him that they would have given up a thousand solos if that's what it took to get him and Blaine together. It was only fitting that Jeff and Nick sang at their wedding.

Kurt glanced at the other tables where the rest of the New Directions and Warblers were sitting. It was good to see familiar faces again. It felt like only yesterday that they had been sitting around at Breadstix for the Valentine's Day Lonely Hearts Club. True, they were all much older now. They had greying hair and wrinkles (thankfully, not his own) to prove that. Thad, Puck and a few others had their prominent beer guts to show for it. Most of them also had children, though Kurt wasn't all together certain that was necessarily a sign of maturity.

"Hey Blaine," Wes said after swallowing a mouthful of turkey. "It's time to do the raffle. We want you to announce it along with me, David and Thad." He motioned for Blaine to follow him to the front of the room.

When Blaine and the former Warbler council met at the podium at the front of the room, Wes handed the microphone to the Blaine.

"Hello?" Blaine spoke. No one paid any attention since he could barely be heard over the din of the dinner conversations.

The four former Warblers at the front of the room looked at the couch that was situated next to the podium. Without a word, the four of them jumped onto the couch, and Blaine tried again to get everyone's attention.

Yes, Kurt thought to himself. They may have all grown up, but some things never change. At least, not when it came to the Warblers' compulsive habit of jumping on expensive furniture!

Ava eyed the other kids who sat at her table. There was Dato, Tina and Mike's son, who was just a little younger than her. She didn't mind him; she liked Dato. He was a quiet kid who always went along with whatever she said whenever the families visited each other. Of course she got along well with Barbra and Eli too. But all the other kids, she didn't know what to make of them. There was Mercedes and Sam's kid. He was all right, but his incessant Sean Connery impressions could be super annoying. There was Artie's daughter Angela – she was only five, and Ava was eleven years old, almost twelve. Playing with little kids simply wasn't as much fun as it used to be.

Then there was Collin, that tall, skinny kid with the dark brown hair, who was about her age. He had apparently just moved to New York with his parents. He kept talking about how excited he was that his dad got a new job as a science correspondent for NBC. Ava guessed from his chatter that his dad was one of the Warblers – the one named Nick – who had gone to school with her Daddy and Baba. He was smart – he knew what the capital of the United Arab Emirates was, and she was pretty sure no other kid from her grade cared about these kinds of things. He was funny too – his specialty was history jokes. Something about him bothered her, though, she just wished she knew what.

"So what's it like having two dads?" Collin asked rather innocently.

Ava, however, didn't take it as an innocent question. "Why? What's it to you?" She retorted dryly.

"Um, um, n-nothing," Collin stammered. "It's just my dad talks about your dads all the time. I just wondered if things are, I don't know, different for you. You know, if the other kids at your school are cool with it."

"Well, it's none of YOUR business," Ava huffed. "And FYI, I'm fine. No one here makes me feel like a freak just because my dads are gay. Because no one messes with the Hummel-Andersons."

Barbra overheard part of the conversation and gave Collin one of her famous leave-my-cousin-alone death glares.

"I'm sorry," the boy sighed, looking at his lap. "I didn't mean to upset you. Really, I didn't mean to make you feel like a freak."

"Well you did," Ava mumbled under her breath.

"I just thought it's kinda cool that you have two dads, that's all. At least, I've never met any kids with two dads or two moms in the same family. Where I come from gay people still aren't allowed to get married. People don't talk about these things. They especially hate it when kids ask questions about it in school."

Ava continued to scowl.

"Never mind, just forget I ever said anything," Collin said, downtrodden.

Ava reached for the bottle of sparking apple cider and started pouring herself a glass, only to realize that the bottle was practically empty.

"Here, let me," Collin reached for the bottle closer to him and poured some into Ava's glass.

"Um, thank you…" Ava said rather stiffly. Just because you poured me a drink doesn't mean you're off the hook for not minding your own business, she thought to herself.

"What school do you go to?" Collin asked after a few seconds of silence.

Ava raised her eyebrows. Geez, what's with this kid and all his questions?

Thankfully, Eli grabbed her just then. "Come on Ava, let's go bug our parents. I'll bet my Dad's secretly watching the Buckeye's game on his iPad. I wanna go check the scores!"

"Sam, I can't believe you named your kid after Rory," Rachel said incredulously, her eyes wide opened. "You didn't even know him for that long. How on earth did you get Mercedes to go along with this?"

Sam shrugged nonchalantly. "We kept in touch even after he went home to Ireland. Guess we bonded over living away from home. He's a pretty cool guy, and I always thought Rory's a nice name."

Kurt and Blaine, along with a small group of former New Directions members, had gathered near the bar to catch up on old times while they were waiting for the Warblers to prepare a Christmas skit.

"Well, it took a lot of convincing," Mercedes laughed. "I did want a kid named Aretha, but I guess that wasn't such a good name for a boy."

"Hmmm, aim for a girl next time, and then you can name her whatever you want, Mercedes," Finn said, grinning. "That's how we did it. We said that if we had a girl, then Rachel gets to name her Barbra. But if it was a boy, I got to pick the name. We had both, so I named my boy after Eli Manning."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Because of course Finn had to name his kid after an all-American football hero!"

Kurt had his arms wrapped around Blaine, and he was resting his head on Blaine's shoulder. They were smiling at the memory of naming their child. There were no arguments, no fights, no bargaining either – they simply knew, and they couldn't be any happier with the choice they made together.

"Well, speaking of kids, here come a few of them from your clan," Sam said as Ava and Eli came running up.

"Dad! Dad!" Eli said, slightly out of breath. "What's the score of the football game? Are the Buckeyes winning?"

"They're up by two touch-downs at half time," Finn responded without thinking. That earned him a slap on the wrist from Rachel.

"Hey! You're not supposed to know that!" Rachel huffed. "Hmmm, have you been sneaking to the bathroom all this time just to watch the game on your iPad?"

"Oops, busted. Sorry, Dad," Eli said sheepishly, grinning just a little bit too diabolically.

"Hi Eli, hi Ava," Sam and Mercedes hugged the kids. "Hope you're hanging in there," Mercedes said apologetically. "Rory can be a bit much with his impressions sometimes. He takes after his dad."

"Hey!" Sam opened his mouth to protest. "He's your kid too!"

"It's okay," Ava smiled. "He's not THAT annoying!"

Kurt rolled his eyes playfully at his daughter. "Well, Ava, I'm sure Sam and Mercedes feel a lot better now hearing that from you!" Ava responded by rolling her eyes.

"Wow, no one could ever have guessed that you don't share genes!" Mercedes chuckled at Ava's uncanny imitation of her father.

Ava looked at the bar. "Daddy, can I order a fancy drink from the bar? Without the alcohol, of course."

Blaine smiled at his daughter. "Sure, but only because you've been good. Why don't we go with you too? Guys and gals, excuse us for a moment, but we have to get this little lady here a proper drink."

Blaine, Kurt and Ava approached the bar. "Well Ava, what will you have?" Blaine asked.

Ava pondered for a moment. "Hmmmm…Daddy, what is it you always drink when you go to parties and you have to do the driving?"

"Ah, well, darling, that would be a Shirley Temple," Kurt responded with a wide grin.

"Okay, I'll have a Shirley Temple then," Ava instructed the bartender in her most grown-up voice.

"So everything all right with the other kids?" Kurt asked.

Ava sighed. "Well, I guess so. They're nice enough, I think. Except for this one guy. Collin – you know, the tall skinny one?"

Blaine nodded. "Nick's son. They just moved here. So what about Collin?"

Ava shrugged. "I dunno. I just don't like him. He asks a lot of questions. And sometimes I don't like to answer them."

Blaine and Kurt looked at each other, wondering what was going on. "Oh, like what?" Kurt prompted.

"He wanted to know if I liked having two gay dads. What kind of a stupid question is that?" Ava snorted, exasperated at this little inquisition from her fathers.

Blaine thought for a moment before responding. "Hmmm…well, Ava, I can see how that might get annoying after a while, but you know, if you're nice to him, he'll soon see that kids with gay or lesbian parents are just like all the other kids. You know what I mean?"

Ava nodded. "I guess he's nice. But I just don't like that he keeps asking me questions, like he wants to be my friend or something, even though he barely knows me."

"Well you know Ava," Kurt said, "maybe he DOES want to be your friend. Honestly, honey, I think you might be overreacting just a bit. Look, he's new here, I'm sure he just wants to make some new friends his age before he starts school here in January. We've been talking to his parents, and they think they might try to get Collin into the same school as you, just so he'll know somebody at school."

Ava looked around and sighed. "Okay, okay, don't worry, I'm not going to be mean to him. I'm just saying, I don't know that I want to be his BFF right now, that's all. Anyway, I'm going to find Barbra. She said earlier she has something to show me."

"All right, go!"

Blaine watched Ava run off in search of her older cousin. He gave Kurt a quizzical glance.

"Hmmm...do you think Collin could be a romantic interest for Ava, perhaps?"

Kurt thought about it for a moment. "Nah, but give it a year or two. Or maybe she likes girls. Who knows?"

The couple didn't have too much time to talk about whether their daughter has a romantic interest in boys (or girls), because at that very moment some very late guests arrived.

"Heeeeey! Did the party start without us?" A tall blond woman dressed in an elegant dark green satin gown entered the room.

"Yes, Brittany, it's because we're really late," Santana, looking stunning in a crimson colored dress, followed right behind Brittany. "But that's okay, because the party doesn't REALLY start until WE get here."

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Prospero A�o y Felicidad

It took about two seconds for Santana and Brittany to get everyone's attention with their singing. The Warblers, who were assembled in the foyer of the Union League Club building, heard the song and abandoned their Christmas skit rehearsal, darting back into the Main Room to see who had just arrived. Sam picked up his guitar to accompany the song, and the Warblers rhythm section started beat boxing to the tune.

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Prospero A�o y Felicidad

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart

The room erupted in cheers. When the singing stopped.

"Oh yeah!" One of the Warblers alumni shouted.

Ah, yes. The old Warbler cry. Some things really don't change.

2034

"What's the matter honey?" Carole directed her question at Finn. "You're a little quiet."

Finn sat up a little straighter in his chair, feeling too many pairs of eyes on him. "Oh, nothing, it's just, the reunion always gets me thinking about where we all are now."

He wasn't quite sure what he was trying to say, but he continued anyway.

"I just can't believe how many people made it to New York in the end. Makes me wonder if maybe I held Rachel back from her dreams. Like, if I only dreamed a little bigger we would have been successful in New York too."

Kurt spoke immediately. "But Finn, you are successful. You took over Dad's shop in the worst economic slump this country has seen since the Great Depression, and turned it into the most successful small business in the entire Mid-West. AND you're doing that while coaching McKinley's football team to four national championships. AND Azimio practically had to beg you for a job at the shop washing cars. Just like the song, remember?"

"Yeah, Dad, we're all really proud of you," Eli chimed in.

"And besides, I am living my dream," Rachel spoke soothingly. "I have a beautiful family," she paused to smile at Eli and Barbra. "I'm directing my own chorale ensemble, we've just signed a recording contract to do the soundtrack for a remake of Sophie's Choice, and I get to do all this without having to sacrifice time with all of you guys. Anyway, Finn, you didn't hold me back. With the election fiasco NYADA really wasn't an option for me. I was lucky that Oberlin took me."

Blaine added, "I think what Rachel was trying to say is that we all made something of ourselves, and just because you're not doing the same thing as everyone else doesn't diminish your accomplishments one bit."

Finn smiled. "Gee, thanks guys. Sorry for being such a bummer when we should all be happy. I guess we all made it big, didn't we?"

"All right," Burt said, "enough of this sappy stuff. We have more pressing issues to talk about. Like this Collin kid Ava met at this reunion last year. Doesn't he go to your school now, kiddo? I remembered Kurt saying something about it…"

Ava gasped in shock. Her face turned beet red. "DADDY! You TOLD him?"