“Did you ever think we would get to this point?” Blaine whisper-asks his husband so he doesn't wake the three-week-old girl, bundled in a pink Baby Dior receiving blanket, and cradled in Kurt's arms. Blaine often jokes that he hasn't actually seen his daughter yet, since the moment the nurses placed her in his husband's arms, Kurt hasn't let her go.

“Yes,” Kurt answers quickly, bending to kiss his daughter's forehead. “I never had any doubt in my mind.”

It's a perfect answer, a very Kurt answer, but Blaine didn't expect it.

The last three years of their lives saw them trapped in purgatory, attempting to adopt a child and encountering failure at every turn.

One adoption fell through at the last minute.

Another ended after three months in an unfortunate and heartbreaking miscarriage.

One beautiful foster daughter arrived on their doorstep, bringing with her too many legal and emotional issues from her biological family for the two of them to handle, and they tried. They really tried.

Then, when they had found a willing surrogate (thankfully amongst their group of trusted friends) and sunk thousands of dollars into the IVF procedure, the unwelcome surprise that Blaine had infertility issues that they could not overcome.

They traveled so many roads that turned into dead ends. They took a breather, went on vacation, then came back to New York and started over fresh with Kurt as the biological father.

And now, approximately nine months (and three weeks) later, they were parents.

“You didn't?” Blaine asks, surprised at how Kurt could have believed that everything would turn out in the end, especially when Blaine had started to lose faith that this was meant to be for them. “How?”

“Because” - Kurt smiles when their sleepy baby yawns - “I had hope.”

Blaine kisses the top of his daughter's head, breathing in the sweet smell of baby that all infants seem to have from birth. It's the best smell in the world. He knows he'll never forget it.

“I'm glad you did,” Blaine says, “because now we both have Hope.”