1.

Its nice having an egg back in her nest—rather a fully-fledged young bird. Carole knows Kurts only resting his wings. Shes sad for his reasons, but having him home is both joy and salve.

The comfort of his presence when Burts in DC fills the house with tangible warmth: faint sounds of Broadway in the upstairs hall, the hiss of the espresso machine at six AM, coming home to dinner and a glass of wine—and then heckling Burts political opponents on the evening news until theyre both in hysterics. It leaves less room for the restless ghosts of memory.

2.

Thursday Carole comes home for a late lunch, opens the front door to a sound she hasnt heard in nearly two years: the happy murmurs of two boys voices winding down the stairwell into the foyer. Neither is the voice embedded in her bones, but she knows Blaines laugh as well as she knows Kurts. She closes the door with enough force theyll hear it.

Just this past Saturday, Kurt was staring miserably into his morning coffee.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She sat down and pushed a blueberry streusel muffin across the table.

"Blaine kissed me last night," Kurt said. "And then he looked... so unhappy, he walked away without saying anything. Hes still with Karofsky. Maybe the duet was a mistake and I shouldnt have—" He breaks off, shudders. "Im afraid it was a goodbye kiss."

Comforting Kurt is often not about reassurance but instead challenging his thinking. Hes different from Finn. "Sometimes, people walk away because they need to know whether youll follow."

Kurt blinked at her, disoriented as if shed turned on a light in a dark room. "How am I supposed to know that?"

"Youll figure it out," she said. Today, it sounds like he did.

3.

"Youre Kurts mom, right?" Whitney Pierce asks her. Its after the ceremony, and Caroles on her second celebratory glass of bubbles, which is maybe why her heart pangs so sharply in her chest that her vision blurs.

"Oh," she says. Usually she would correct the assumption out of respect for Burts first wife. But Kurt and Finn only ever called each other brother. So, in a wash of tipsy emotion, she honors his memory and her own feelings, "Yes, I am."

(The girls planned a number featuring their mothers; theres a spare dress her size. Whitney tells her the song, and Carole agrees. She watched a son be married today, and thats something to be excited about.)

Its been such a long time since shes seen Kurts happiness look so effortless. Tonight, she feels the same way about her own.

Still, some melancholy creeps in when she sees Rachel with Sam, but its not accompanied by the heaviness of grief today. She holds Burts hand and leans into his warmth, draws his attention to Rachel and Sams shared nervous smiles. They both know well what its like to find love again when you stopped believing it was possible for your heart to heal enough to hold it. When Rachel catches her eye, all she can do is smile her encouragement and approval. And after living under her roof for a year, Sams been one of her eggs too, in his own way. Just like Rachel. Shes happy for them both.

Its not until later, as the night deepens, that Blaine leads her onto the dance floor and guides her through a waltz. They both laugh when she steps on his toes. Her heart overflows when she realizes: its not only that Kurts gained a husband today; shes gained another son.