Blaine steps into the small nursery opposite from the bedroom he shared with his husband, Kurt. The walls are light blue and Blaine smiles because they remind him of Kurt's eyes. On the walls are a collection of abstract trees that their friend Lucy from college had painted in green with gray and gold leaves. There are about 150 leaves and each one has the name Ann Marie painted in fancy red script. Blaine lets his eyes wander over the mural dedicated to their little girl. It had taken over three weeks just to do the walls, but it was worth it. The walls are the most beautiful things Blaine has ever seen.

The floor is a light brown hardwood and on top of it is a fluffy hot pink rug that was a gift from Brittany. Blaine grins as the rug tickles his bare feet. Blaine imagines crouching down low as his daughter colors on this very rug, most likely because Kurt will refuse to let her near the pristine hardwood floor with Crayola crayons, no matter how waterproof they claim to be.

At the corner of the rug is a chocolate brown plush chair and in front of it, a matching ottoman. Many nights Blaine had dreamed of rocking his baby girl in that very chair and falling asleep with his feet up on the ottoman and his daughter in his arms until Kurt would come in. He would set the baby down in her powdered pink crib and lean down to kiss her goodnight. Then he'll wake Blaine up and take him to their room, where they would sleep, snuggled together and smiling because they're parents.

Parents.

The word used to make Blaine's insides flutter with happiness, but now they just leave a bitter sting in his heart.

For as long as Blaine could remember, he wanted a child. Specifically a little baby girl. He didn't care if whether she was biologically his or his partner's or just adopted, he wanted a little girl to call his own.

Now he had gotten his chance. He had the perfect husband, the perfect career to support a family, and the perfect house to shelter them. His eyes trail up to the painting above the bed. It's of a small baby with blonde hair and icy blue eyes. The picture is so realistic it could pass as a photograph. It's Lucy's handiwork, of course. She claimed it was a good luck charm for the baby.

Blaine's eyes sting with tears. Fat load of good that good luck charm did. He supposes he should take the painting down. He and Kurt should just convert the room to a study or something and sell all the baby stuff. But he can't. He can't bring himself to change a single thing. Under the painted baby's fat thigh is a name:

Ann Marie Anderson-Hummel

That's why Blaine can't bring the painting down. Because if he did, that means there was never an Ann Marie Anderson-Hummel. It would mean there will never be an Ann Marie Anderson-Hummel.

Lindsey, Ann Marie's biological mother, was a nice girl with a loud voice and charming personality. Blaine instantly loved her the moment they were introduced. She was funny, and gorgeous, and possibly the most intelligent girl Blaine had ever met. It took Kurt a few weeks to warm up to her, however, because of her strict Christian upbringing. When the three of them had gotten into contact through the adoption agency, Julia, their social worker, had suggested the three of them get acquainted.

One of their first meetings was a disaster when Lindsey had found out that Kurt was an atheist and claimed that he hadn't found Jesus yet and Kurt had snarkily asked her if she had found Jesus when her parents kicked her out of their house and forced her to live with her boyfriend who moved to New York City with his band, pregnant girlfriend in tow, and dumped her in the city and forced her to move in with a friend of hers when a record producer had decided to sign the band. Lindsey had left in tears and Kurt was in a foul mood for the rest of the day.

The next few meetings were better with Lindsey and Kurt bonding over everything from fashion to celebrity crushes to music tastes. A little while later, they were like best friends. Lindsey had even told them that before she thought homosexuality was an abomination, but Kurt and Blaine had changed her mind.

"There's a church a few blocks from my place that's very gay friendly and doesn't call me a whore for getting pregnant at sixteen," she had told them. "I think I'll go there from now on."

Blaine started seeing Lindsey as a little sister and they regularly hung out and chatted on the phone. She told Blaine about her new boyfriend and called the both of them when she got the first ultrasound of the baby.

She was there, face streaked with tears and smiling, when she told them they were going to have a little baby girl. Everything was going swimmingly until the day Lindsey went into labor.

Lindsey's best friend Jenna had texted Kurt and in less than thirty minutes, Kurt and Blaine were in the hospital waiting room. Blaine's heart was racing. This was happening. This was really happening. Kurt kept getting up to call everyone. First Rachel and Finn, then his mother and father, then a mass text to his closest friends from high school and college. The Anderson-Hummels were about to welcome their baby girl into the world.

Fourteen hours later, Kurt and Blaine knew there was something wrong. Doctors and nurses kept rushing in and out of Lindsey's room, whispering to each other and muttering under their breaths and every once in a while the ones that knew they were there for Lindsey would give Kurt and Blaine apologetic looks.

A few hours later, Cara, an Indian nurse with long dark brown hair and warm chocolate eyes, sat next to them and sighed. Kurt and Blaine had met her before when they came with Lindsey for a few of her appointments to check on the baby.

"Maybe you guys should go home," she had said.

"What is happening?" Kurt asked.

Cara shook her head. "We can't tell you guys. We can only tell family."

"That's our baby she's giving birth to," Kurt said, his anger rising.

Another apologetic look.

"We've contacted her mother in Ohio and she's flying in. Maybe she'll tell you," Cara said, getting up to do her job. Blaine could hear the tiredness in her voice and he felt sorry for her. She had to be around all this everyday. Blaine didn't really like to talk about it, but he never liked hospitals. After that night at the Sadie Hawkins dance, hospitals just represented regret and pain. He felt Kurt clutch his arm and rest his head on Blaine's shoulder.

"Lie to me and tell me everything is going to be okay," Kurt murmured as his eyes fluttered closed. Cara wasn't the only one that was tired. It had to be way past midnight already. Blaine stifled a yawn and rubbed Kurt's shoulder.

"I wouldn't be lying," he said. "Everything is going to be okay."

"I hope so," Kurt said before he drifted off to sleep.

Blaine hadn't even noticed that he fell asleep too until a plump woman with a round face and wild dirty blonde hair had poked him with one of her fat fingers.

"Do you know where the goddamn nurses' desk is? I've been running up and down this damn hospital to find my baby girl," the woman asked. She had a distinct accent that Blaine couldn't place in his sleepy haze, but it was definitely familiar. He pointed to the sign that said nurses' desk and she nodded at him before running off.

Five hours later a wail came from somewhere near them and Blaine's eyes flew open and he sat up suddenly, waking Kurt up in the process. Kurt cursed under his breath and yawned animatedly.

"Well that was a lovely way to wake up. A psychotic yell and a bony shoulder shoved into the side of my head," Kurt deadpanned. Blaine turned to smile at him, but another cry came from the direction of the nurses' desk. Blaine stood and moved to see what the commotion was about.

The woman he had directed to the nurses' desk had collapsed on the floor. He was about to take a step toward her when Cara came out from behind the desk.

"Blaine, I've been so busy I forgot to tell you guys," she said in a whisper. She wasn't supposed to be telling them anything; they weren't family. Cara quickly glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was paying attention to her, and shuffled to where Kurt was sitting. Blaine took his seat next to Kurt.

"What happened?" Kurt asked.

"There were some complications and," she took a deep breath. "Lindsey didn't make it."

Blaine's heart fell to the floor and Kurt let out a strangled cry. Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"And the baby?" Kurt asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"She's fine," Cara said with a small smile. "And healthy. Congrats on your bouncing baby girl."

"What you congratulating them for?" the woman had asked. Kurt, Blaine, and Cara all jumped, unaware that she had been listening in on their conversation.

"I've gotta-I've gotta go," Cara stammered nervously and in an instant she was gone.

"What she congratulating you for?" the woman asked. Her eyes were rimmed with red and her nose was running, but she didn't seem to care.

"We're adopting Lindsey's baby," Kurt told her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"No," she said. Kurt and Blaine looked at each other, then back at her.

"What?" Blaine asked.

"No," she snarled. "Aint no fags raising my grandbaby."

Blaine suddenly recognized the accent. Ohio. And just like that, their dreams of having a little girl were shattered. They had tried countless agencies before and any other option was just outside of their price range.

They were going home without a baby.

The drive back home was silent. They sulked to their apartment which suddenly felt too big, too empty for just the two of them. Kurt told Blaine he wasn't going to sleep just yet and kissed Blaine goodnight before Blaine made his way to their bedroom.

The moment Blaine had gotten into bed, he heard Kurt scream. The next thing he heard was some banging and a crash. He didn't bother to get out of bed. He knew Kurt was just letting his frustration out.

Blaine, however, didn't. There were no tears, no screams, and no throwing things around. He stayed silent. He knew it was too good to be true. That's just how life worked.

That night Blaine didn't sleep. He just laid on his side, curled up in the sheets, staring at the wall until the sun came up. Kurt didn't join him in bed at any point through the night.

That afternoon, Julia had called them. She explained that Lindsey didn't sign the adoption papers, so the baby was still legally hers. Since both Lindsey and the baby's father were dead (the baby's father died in a car accident), the next living relative was now the legal guardian which was Lindsey's mother. Kurt left the room during the call.

"Is that all?" Blaine asked Julia. Julia hesitated for a moment and inhaled deeply.

"There is something else," she said. "I-I don't know why, but Lindsey's mother gave me a picture of the baby. D-do you want it? If you do, you can swing by my office to get it."

Blaine hung up without saying goodbye and stared into his lap. The next thing he knew, he was picking up the picture from Julia's office. She gave him a sad smile as she handed it over. On the back of the picture, scribbled next to the date, was the name Ann Marie Lindsey Peters.

Lindsey had told everyone she knew that she wanted the baby's name to be Ann Marie.

"She feels like an Ann Marie. Whenever she moves, I just think ‘oh, Ann Marie's moving again'," she had told Blaine and Kurt. They laughed and assured her that the baby's name would be Ann Marie. They wouldn't change it. Guess her mother didn't want to change it either.

Blaine didn't tell Kurt that he had gotten the picture. He and Kurt hadn't spoken much since the day Lindsey died. In fact, Kurt hadn't spoken much in general since that day. Blaine knew it was because this was another death of someone close to him that he had to deal with. He had gotten so emotional when Pavarotti died and Pav was a bird. Lindsey was like the little sister he never had.

Blaine kept the picture in his wallet and had forgotten about it until he went to lunch with Lucy. He didn't tell Lucy what happened with the baby. She thought Ann Marie was just with her mother for a little while. Blaine didn't feel the need to correct her. Not yet anyway.

When he had reached into his wallet to pay for lunch, the picture had fallen down to the table and Lucy snatched it up before Blaine could even attempt to. It was folded and Lucy curiously unfolded it. She squealed when she saw what it was.

"She's beautiful!" she had said.

"She is," Blaine stated. He couldn't look at the picture too often, he would get too attached, too emotionally invested, and there was nothing to get emotionally invested in. The baby wasn't his.

"Can I draw her?" Lucy asked, snapping Blaine out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"Can I draw her? As a present for you guys? Please?" Lucy's eyes were so full of joy and hope that Blaine just couldn't say no. He nodded slowly and another squeal came from Lucy. She got to her feet and kissed Blaine on the cheek. "You'll get this back soon!" she said as she ran off to get to work. That's the thing about Lucy. The moment she gets inspired, she just has to draw. She'll drop everything else to work on her art.

A few days later, not a drawing but an amazing painting was hanging in the nursery. Lucy had shrugged it off saying she couldn't just draw something with a pencil and paper for their little girl. She had to make it special. Because they were special and, by extension, Ann Marie was special too.

She didn't notice when Kurt's eyes started tearing up and he noiselessly left the room.

Now Blaine is staring at the masterpiece of the girl that's supposed to be his daughter unsure of what to do. He doesn't know how he's supposed to go on from here. They could try again, yes, but they still live in a world that sees gays as second class citizens. How many other mothers will pull out of the deal the moment they find out Blaine and Kurt are husbands?

Blaine actually thought everything would be different when they officially moved to New York, but sometimes he can't even tell the difference between Lima and New York City. Blaine sits down on the rugs and leans back against the light pink dresser across from the crib.

"You'll only depress yourself more," says a voice above him. Blaine looks up to see Kurt standing in the doorway, his eyes tired and his nose red. Blaine patted the space beside him, gesturing for Kurt to sit down. Kurt takes a sweeping glance of the room and sighs as he sits down next to Blaine. Blaine instinctively wraps his arms around Kurt's shoulders and Kurt scoots  down so his head is resting on Blaine's chest. They've done this millions of times. Just sat together in different parts of the house, both enjoying the feeling of another person being so close by. But now it felt like they are comforting each other after a loss and honestly, they are.

They've lost their baby girl and their little sister. In one day everything had changed and it happened so fast that it gave Kurt and Blaine no chance to adjust.

"Lie to me and tell me everything is going to be okay," Kurt mumbles against Blaine's chest. Blaine feels like laughing, but laughing would be the worst thing to do in this situation.

He ducks his head low and whispers in Kurt's ear: "I wouldn't be lying. Everything is going to be okay."

And for the first time since that day at the hospital, he believes it. Because they still have each other and one day they will get that little girl and they'll name her Ann Marie Lindsey Anderson-Hummel and she'll be theirs. No one will be able to take her away.

Yeah, everything is going to be okay.