“Anyone that they would consider for the part wouldn’t even have a fourth of my talent so there was really no point in holding any more auditions and-Kurt, are you even listening to me?” Rachel was in the middle of telling Kurt the story of how she had come to be the lead actress in a new, up and coming musical just off Broadway.

Kurt, who had heard this story no less than five times already, replied, “Of course I’m listening and I agree. You’re perfect for the part.”

“I really am, aren’t I” Rachel declared as she launched full force into another tale of her last rehearsal. Kurt tried to pay attention. He really did. Soon, though, he found his mind wandering to his latest worry until Rachel’s shrill tone pierced into his mind with, “Seriously, Kurt. I swear, this baby is already taking up all of your time and energy and you still have two months left before it gets here.”

Kurt huff and dropped his hand to his protruding belly protectively. Yes, he was a little preoccupied, but that was to be expected. He had a life growing inside him. In just a matter of months, he would be responsible for another person. Kurt had learned from his father that one of the most important things about being a parent was being an advocate for your children. So despite all of the other retorts that he could have dished out to Rachel he carefully said, “Rachel, would you please stop calling her an ‘it’? We found out months ago that I’m having a girl.”

“Right, sorry. So, what is it this time? Nursery colors, little pink outfits, part-time nannies?”

“As if I’d get into my third trimester and not have those things figured out,” Kurt joked, smirking at Rachel’s flustered huff. “No. It’s Blaine. It’s just hard to do this without him, you know?”

Rachel’s eyes sparked as she demanded, “You didn’t break up did you? Because if you broke up with Blaine just as you were about to have a child together, I’m going to have to be extremely angry with you. Remember the last time I was extremely angry with you?”

“Yes. My Armani trench coat does too” Kurt replied, thinking of last Fall when he and Blaine had promised to go to Rachel’s apartment to celebrate Thanksgiving but had been almost two hours late. In Kurt’s mind, being late to a friend’s house because his gorgeous boyfriend had proclaimed that his outfit had too many layers and had proceeded to peel each and every one of them off before pinning him to the bed and essentially devouring him was perfectly acceptable. In Rachel’s, not so much. When they had finally stepped through the door, Rachel was ready with a bowl of cranberry sauce. Suffice to say that Kurt never did get the stains out.

“I stand by my actions wholeheartedly” Rachel teased, nudging Kurt gently with her shoulder. “I expect that because you’re joking about ruined clothing items and not crying over a tub of frozen yogurt, you and Blaine are still together.”

“Of course we are, but with the musical in full swing, he’s barely ever here between rehearsals and performances.” It was strange to live with someone and go days without seeing them, but the clash between Kurt’s schedule designing costumes for Rachel’s musical, during his self-imposed hiatus from the stage, and Blaine’s hours working on his show meant that the two hadn’t really seen each other at all for almost three days. Kurt left each morning before Blaine woke up and was fast asleep by the time Blaine came home.

Blaine’s absence was taxing to Kurt in more ways than him missing out on Kurt’s pregnancy. Kurt simply missed Blaine. He missed the way Blaine came up behind him and buried his lips in Kurt’s neck. He missed Blaine’s annoying habit of singing about two lines of a song before moving to another while he was in the shower. He missed the moment of snuggling back into Blaine right before they fell asleep, his belly dictating that he would be the little spoon. The two hadn’t had a real conversation in over a week and Kurt had no idea how Blaine was doing beyond the simple answers of, ‘yes, the show is great’ and ‘I swear I’m eating, Kurt, stop worrying’.

The lack of conversation between them was most of why Rachel was the one that Kurt turned to for most of his baby talk. Kurt knew Rachel was getting tired of listening to him talk about it, but he pushed on. “I just can’t wait until the show is over. It’s been such a great run for Blaine, but I miss him.”

“The show is almost ready to close for the season, right?” Rachel questioned.

Kurt nodded, and explained, “The show has a month left to run. Blaine and I will have a month together to baby-proof our apartment and get everything in order before she gets here.” In Kurt’s opinion, the month couldn’t pass quickly enough.

“See,” Rachel gushed, “Everything will be fine. Blaine will be here soon.”

**************************************************************

Blaine was not there. Another tear slipped from Kurt’s already puffy eyes as he remembered for the dozenth time that Blaine wasn’t with him. He wasn’t coming. Couldn’t. It was closing night of his musical and there wasn’t any way that Blaine would miss that. Even if he wanted to, his director was known for being the biggest hardass on Broadway and he would never let Blaine, his star lead, miss the last performance.

Kurt understood. He really did. He had left a message on Blaine’s phone that he was having contractions and Rachel was taking him to the hospital but he hadn’t heard anything back from the other man. Blaine always left his phone in his bag in the green room; he barely ever had it with him before a show and Kurt would never ask Blaine to sacrifice his career for anything.

He tried to be strong, but as he lay, numb from the neck down, on an operating table surrounded by unrecognizable faces covered in sea foam green masks and hairnets, Kurt couldn’t feel anything other than terrified. He didn’t speak Doctor and half of the dialogue going on around him went straight over his head. He knew it was almost time, that soon the doctors would begin the emergency cesarean section that would bring his little girl into the world.

He knew that it was too soon. He was delivering an entire four weeks early, which the doctors said could cause some complications and could possibly result in developmental delays. Logically, Kurt knew that he and Blaine would love their daughter no matter what and that chances were slim that anything would be wrong, but it was hard to keep that in mind when all he could think about was that he was completely alone. Sure, Rachel was in the waiting room, along with Finn, his dad, and Carol, but he hadn’t wanted any of them to come in. It was supposed to be him and Blaine in this moment. And if Kurt couldn’t have Blaine with him now, then he would go it alone.

Kurt closed his eyes against the harsh, unyielding lights above him and took as deep a breath as he dared. The hospital smell was overwhelming and all he wanted to do was bury his nose in Blaine’s neck until he heard his baby girl’s first cry and the doctors said that she was alright. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut tighter and concentrated on breathing, tuning everything around him out. So when he felt a familiar, soothing touch ghost over the wrinkle between his eyebrows, Kurt’s eyes flew open to find the only person he wanted to see smiling down at him.

Relief rolled over him like a wave in a hurricane; strong, abrupt, and unstoppable. Tears moistened the corners of his eyes again, blurring Blaine, and Kurt blinked furiously to force them away. Blaine caught the wetness on his fingertips and wiped it away with a movement that shouldn’t have been so easy up-side-down.

As Kurt looked up at Blaine, his lover, his rock, his best friend in the world, so many words rushed to the surface. He wanted Blaine to know how much he loved him. Kurt ached to tell Blaine how extraordinarily happy he was that Blaine was here.

For reasons that Kurt will probably never be able to explain, what did come out of his mouth was, “Why can you pull off sea foam green? No one should be able to wear that color. It’s repulsive.” Blaine was dressed in the same protective gear as the doctors around him. His garb was complete with a hairnet, as if a single hair would dare to come loose from the gel encasing Blaine’s curls.

“What can I say, I look good in anything” Blaine smiled and dropped his hand to caress Kurt’s cheek.

Kurt smiled and said, “Not true. I have pictures of you in that orange and brown striped blazer and before you ask, yes, I did burn it.”

“Kurt,” Blaine whined, “I loved that blazer.”

“It did not love you,” Kurt teased before his voice became deadly serious. “I, however, do. Thank you for being here.” All joking aside, Kurt was more grateful than he had ever been that Blaine was here with him. The need to touch Blaine was overwhelming. Not being able to do so was almost more than he could bear.

Blaine somehow sensed this and brought both hands to rest on Kurt’s jaw line, framing his face somewhat awkwardly because of the up-side-down angle. “I love you too. I would never miss this. You’re about to have our baby, Kurt. There’s no place else I’d rather be.”

“How did you get away from closing night?” As much as Kurt needed Blaine with him, he knew that Blaine had other commitments that couldn’t easily be broken.

Blaine’s smile immediately took away some of his guilt. “That’s what my understudy is for. Leo has been absolutely dying for his chance on the stage. I told my director that you were going into labor and he told me to get going or I’d miss it. It’s not a problem, baby; don’t worry about that.”

Kurt nodded, accepting that Blaine hadn’t sacrificed his relationship with his director or fellow cast mates in order to be here. His nerves weren’t entirely soothed however. “I’m scared” Kurt admitted with a whisper. “It’s too soon, B. She shouldn’t be coming yet. We were supposed to have more time. We haven’t baby-proofed the upstairs yet. I still haven’t read that book on making your own organic baby food. I have no idea how to French braid. Her hair is going to be a mess! There’s no way that mmhf-“ Kurt’s freak out was cut short by Blaine gently pressing his lips against Kurt’s.

The angle was awkward, but Kurt tipped his head back until their lips slotted together with ease that must have come from Blaine’s love of surprise kissing him from behind while Kurt was sitting on the sofa. Blaine’s strong thumbs stroked over Kurt’s cheeks as he slipped his tongue into the other’s waiting mouth, tasting him. A less than dignified whimper of disapproval left Kurt’s throat as Blaine pulled away.

“Shh, my love. Look at me.” Blaine crooned, waiting until Kurt’s eyes flitted up and found his own before continuing. “We still have a few months to finish baby-proofing and learning how to make chemical free mashed carrots. It will be years before we’ll really need to be able to French braid. There’s still time.”

Kurt smiled, accepting that Blaine’s words were true. They still had time. All that mattered now was bringing their baby girl into the world. The little things would work themselves out.

“Mr. Hummel, we’re ready to begin. If all goes well, you’ll be able to see your daughter in less than an hour.” The lead surgeon, who Kurt recognized immediately by her kind eyes, appeared above Kurt, next to Blaine.

Kurt nodded, looking up to Blaine. In Blaine’s shining hazel eyes, Kurt found all of the reassurance he needed. They really could do this. It was time. He let his gaze linger on the man he loved more than life itself for just a moment longer before finding his voice and saying, “We’re ready”.