It was early when the story broke.

It was only a coincidence that Kurt was awake. Well, not so much a coincidence that he was awake. (He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a full night’s sleep.) It was purely coincidental that he happened to have the television on in the background as the announcement came through.

“Late breaking news this morning,” the anchorman announced, a smile betraying the impartiality he was supposed to display.

Kurt turned toward the television, bouncing the baby girl, who never seemed to sleep, on his hip.

Blaine shuffled out of the bedroom, scratching his sleep mussed hair, his eyes flickering back and forth between his husband and their baby as Kurt stared at the television with rapt attention.

He pressed a kiss to his daughter’s hair before kissing Kurt’s lips. “‘Morning, sweetheart,” he mumbled sleepily.

Kurt kissed him back distractedly. “Good morning.”

Blaine turned toward the kitchen as the television chattered in the background.

A shocked gasp made Blaine spin back around. Kurt’s hand had flown to cover his mouth. “Oh my God!” He breathed. “Oh my God…”

“Kurt?”

There wasn’t time for Kurt to answer before his phone was ringing. Kurt reached toward the coffee table to pick up the phone with shaky hands. And Blaine didn’t even have time to listen in on the rapidfire conversation Kurt was having before his own phone started ringing. 

“Hello?” He asked, his voice confused and a little anxious.

His brother’s voice came through immediately, excitement burning in his tone. “Blaine—oh my God—are you watching the news? It happened!”

“What happened?” He asked apprehensively, turning toward the television. “What’s going on—”

He broke off as he saw the words scrolling across the ticker on the news.

Ohio Becomes the 10th State to Declare Slavery Unconstitutional

The phone fell from Blaine’s hand as he crossed the living room to pull Kurt to his chest, mindful of the baby in his arms, and kiss him madly, feeling the wetness of Kurt’s face mix with his own tears.

“Kurt…” Blaine murmured against his husband’s upturned lips. “He did it, baby. Your father did it.”

Kurt still looked beyond words, his eyes brimming with a level of emotion that even after ten years together, Blaine was sure he couldn’t grasp.

The world was changing around them. Evolving. 

Blaine couldn’t help but spare a thought to his family and friends from the state he’d left without a backwards glance so many years ago.

The world they’d grown up in had been flipped on its head, shaking to the core everything they’d ever known. (And in the case of his own parents, had fought to protect.) 

Everything was changing, and as Blaine wrapped his arms around his husband’s waist and looked into the soft blue eyes of the little girl gazing toward his face adoringly, he realized it couldn’t happen soon enough.